Minutiae significant
‘Minutiae are significant’ (lat.)

The topic of typography is so interesting, extensive and multifaceted that it can be discussed endlessly. In this article I will not delve into the difference between apostrophe and a space, a typeface and a font, or which is better — Swiss typography or newline, Antiqua or Grotesque. Each of these topics — is material for a separate discussion.

In the process of developing a "turnkey" website for a state scientific institution, I faced the problem of orderliness and a uniform style of writing articles, descriptions, announcements, and other content. Moreover, in one article, even in one paragraph, there were different versions of quotation marks mixed with the inch symbol, minuses instead of dashes and hyphens, incomprehensible abbreviations, etc.

Of course, this is not the first time in my practice, and usually these problems were solved quite easily: in InDesign — using a script (here I recall with horror the old, good or not so, Quarkxpress), in the web — using php or js plugins. But here was a different case. From the point of view of grammar, the articles were written flawlessly, but not a single plugin could cope with the typography. For me, a person who is terminally ill with excessive perfectionism, this was too much.

Therefore, I decided to write a short guide for content managers on creating a single style of text content, which I want to share with my esteemed colleagues in the industry.

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Remember that headings, paragraphs, and style options do not exist "for beauty", but each performs its own separate function and works according to certain existing rules of grammar and typography.

Headings

There are 6 types and are designated by hierarchy: h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6. They are used to separate articles, chapters, paragraphs, etc.

• It is incorrect to use a heading that is higher in hierarchy inside a lower one.
• It is also undesirable to use headings that are very long in content. Divide them into a heading and a subtitle that will be lower in hierarchy.

Paragraph

Paragraph (paragraph) — one or more sentences that are related to each other in content.

• Don't make paragraphs too long, especially with a list inside, they will be unreadable and difficult to perceive.
• If there is a list of anything inside the paragraph, use unnumbered or numbered lists.

Stamping

Straight-through, regular text (Regular) — used for typing the main text. Most readable.

Italic (Italic) — used for emphasis within regular text.

Bold text (Bold) — used for even greater emphasis within regular text.

Bold Italic (Bold Italic) — used for emphasis inside bold text.

Do not use CAPS LOCK in normal text for emphasis!
It is considered a stupid tone. Like shouting loudly. Use style variations for emphasis in text.

And in general, never use caps lock.*

*Not to be confused with the occasional use of all caps in design, print titles, menu items, pointers, etc.

Quotes

Use only «tree-quotes» «…» — (on the keyboard Alt+0171 and Alt+0187).

If there are other citations in the quoted text or in the direct speech enclosed in quotes, use other quotes ( “…” ) — (on the keyboard Alt+0147 and Alt+0148).

For example: «This is my “Kobzar”», — he said.

Do not use the inch symbol ( "…" ) instead of quotes, which is located on the Latin keyboard layout, where the letter «E», or the number «2».

Dash, hyphen, minus

All have different styles and are used in different cases.

Dash — punctuation mark.

Em dash ( — ) (Em Dash, on the keyboard Alt+0151), also called the main dash. It is not carried to the beginning of the line, except in cases of direct speech. Separated on both sides by spaces.

En Dash (–) (on the keyboard Alt+0150). Used to separate a range of numbers, without a space.

For example: 11–12 o'clock.

Hyphen (‐) a spelling sign. Used to indicate a hyphen, prefix, or phrase.

For example: first, institute, Anna-Maria, etc.

Minus ( - ) a symbol, a mathematical sign. Quite often used instead of a hyphen or dash and this is a gross mistake.

Abbreviations

Do not abuse abbreviations, especially purely professional ones.

Agree, such a fragment looks, firstly, funny, and secondly, not entirely clear (description of the publication from the institute's website): «... et al.: ed. aut. col. and ed. st. n.s. and ed. vid. ...»

Also, between two initials and between initials and the surname, you must put a non-breaking space after the period.

For example:

incorrect: V.V. Gorodetsky, V.V. Gorodetsky,

correct: V. V.  Gorodetsky.

In standard abbreviations of metric values, periods are not used.

For example: m — meter, mm — millimeter, cm — centimeter, h — hour, min — minute, ha — hectare.

The slash is used to abbreviate phrases. After abbreviated parts of words, periods are not placed. 

For example: p/v (post office), a/s (subscriber box), r/r (current account), m/min (meters per minute), km/h (kilometers per hour).

A non-breaking space should be placed between the number and the unit designation.
Therefore, you should write: 15 °C, 20 %, 130 K, 5 m.

Telephone number

• E.123, international format: +380 44 123 45 67
• E.123, national format: (044) 123 45 67
• Microsoft, international format: +380 (44) 1234567

Incorrect: +38 044 1234567 or +38 (044) 1234567.

Currency symbols

Can be used both before and after the amount. But:

You must use the same text style in all articles.

• If the symbol is used before the amount, no space is used
• If after — a non-breaking space is used

For example: 500 mln $, $500 000 000, 10 ₴, ₴10.

Exception

Aligns the text to the left, center, right, and format.

If you are not a professional designer or layout artist, do not touch these buttons at all! Especially the exception in format (distribution of text across the entire width of the page). Especially on websites.

The option «I like it centered» — is not the most correct, and turns even the most useful and attractive text into unreadable.

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