If you write for the web and want to be polished and professional, then you want to be typographically correct.  Below is a guide on what those correct punctuation marks are, and how to create them.

What’s the Problem?

When you write with a good word processor such as Microsoft Word, it will (in most cases) automatically use or substitute the correct punctuation for you. For example, if you typed this:

The company president wrote "The biggest impact--this isn't an exaggeration--is a 3/4 loss of revenues . . ." in an urgent email this morning.

The punctuation characters would be corrected to use the proper symbols like this:

The company president wrote “The biggest impact—this isn’t an exaggeration—is a ¾ loss of revenues…” in an urgent email this morning.

The “wrong” versions are fine for casual or personal communications with friends. But if you want your post to be polished and professional, you’ll want to use the visually appealing and grammatically correct versions. The easiest method for that is to use a word processor with the smarts to do that for you, such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs. But even those tools may sometimes not understand your intent, and you’ll need to make a manual adjustment. You’ll also find that working on the web often means you’ll have to manually enter these symbols. For example, when creating a blog post, composing an online article, or writing a feature for a business Facebook page.

Below is a chart of the special characters I most commonly use. For foreign language characters (like Ç) or esoteric mathematical symbols (such as Σ), you’ll can find thousands of them on a Unicode character tables (like this). The easiest way to get these characters into a web document is Copy & Paste. But if you’re using them frequently, it can be easier and quicker to type their codes. Because I write on the web so frequently, I’ve come to memorize the codes for quotation marks, apostrophes, and em dashes. And it’s much faster to type in their numeric codes than to open a reference, find the symbol, copy it, navigate back to where it’s needed, and then paste it.

 Chart of Common Special Characters

How to Use

Copy & Paste the desired punctuation from the “Symbol” column of this chart.

For Windows users: you can alternatively use the keyboard combination shown in the “Combo” column. For example, to create the copyright symbol (©) the combo is Alt-0169. That is instructing you to HOLD down the ALT key while tapping 0, then 1, then 6, then 9 on the numeric keypad. Release the ALT key and the symbol appears. Any digits in a combo must be entered using the numeric keypad—not the numbers above the letter keys.

table, td, th { border: 2px solid #EEEEEE; border-collapse:collapse; padding-left:0.5em; padding-right:0.5em; padding-top:0.1em; padding-bottom:0.1em; }

Symbol Combo Name — Alt‑0151 Em Dash: breaks, interruptions, or redactions – Alt‑0150 En Dash: ranges, connect/compare (but not join) words (e.g.,Sar­banes–Ox­ley Act) - Alt‑045 Hyphen: join words (e.g., topsy-turvy) “ Alt‑0147 Double Quote open ” Alt‑0148 Double Quote close " Alt‑034 Double Quote straight ‘ Alt‑0145 Single Quote open ’ Alt‑0146 Single Quote close / Apostrophe ' Alt‑039 Single Quote straight … Alt‑0133 Ellipsis: omissions Alt‑255 Non-breaking Space (mimic HTML’s   ) ° Alt‑0176 Degree © Alt‑0169 Copyright ® Alt‑0174 Registered ™ Alt‑0153 Trademark § Alt‑0167 Section ¼ Alt‑0188 Quarter ½ Alt‑0189 Half ¾ Alt‑0190 Three Quarters ÷ Alt‑0247 Division × Alt‑0215 Multiplication

Many manuals of style recently called for the replacement of two spaces between sentences with just a single space. The twin spaces are a holdover from the days of typewriters and typographes have declared them visually disruptive on web pages. It’s not a special character per se as much as it is a habit to break. For an oldtimer like me, who learned to type on a manual typewriter in the ’70s, and then constantly practiced the twin-space convention for 40 years, it may be impossible for me. My only hope is when I’m working with tools that allow global search-and-replace, and then only when I remember the “right” way is now the “wrong” way.

Because I work with qemu and lxd and such quite a bit I have two bridges set up (thankfully automatically by the respective packages, otherwise I'd have ot learn their arcane magic instead of being productive), and if I don't do anything they'll confuse NetworkManager into thinking I'm always online, and even sometimes to prefer the bridge over the wifi because hey I'm already connected (or something, I'm not entirely sure). Things don't work properly, in any case.

You can check if you're in this situation by doing

nmcli c show --active

if it lists things with a TYPE of bridge, you're here.

So, drop this into /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf:

[keyfile] unmanaged-devices=type:bridge

If you want to avoid filtering all bridges, well then read NetworkManager.conf(5).

If you're wanting to do this automatically you probably want to drop it in /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/, before which you'll have to figure out whether putting this will stomp on other things like it, a subject which isn't immediately clear from the manpage itself.

+ f, err := os.Create("/tmp/srv.prof") + if err != nil { + logger.Panicf(err.Error()) + } + pprof.StartCPUProfile(f) + defer pprof.StopCPUProfile()

somewhere in there. Then you build and run the thing (you want the binary, so go build -o /tmp/srv thething; don't just use go run) and do what you need to do, shut it down cleanly, and then

$ go tool pprof -web /tmp/srv ./srv.prof

Hello Congere! I’m very happy to have you on board with this AU and hope it continues to inspire you ♥ As kindly requested, here’s a quickref of dearest Luna! It’s more or less similar to canon Prompto’s, with some softer twists!  --Fran

You can find a fully colored version of the upperhalf here!

Of course, dearest anon ♥ Here she is! --Fran

Macha:

“Keran was so proud, so idealistic. He was so proud when the templars accepted him. I pleaded him not to join the Order, but he wouldn’t listen.“

“Keran would write me every day. Then suddenly, no more letters. I wrote him many times with no response. I tried to see him, but Knight-Commander Meredith threw me out. They won’t tell me anything!”

“Perchance in your journeys if you find yourself in the Gallows--ask the other recruites, Wilmod and Hugh, about my brother. They were Keran’s closest friends in the Order. If anyone knows where he is, it’s them.”

Keran:

“I... I was with a lady. And then things got fuzzy. Nightmares, then. On fire for days, a demon laughing. The naked lady with her razor claws... in my chest. I’d wake and hear screams. Maybe my own? I’m sorry, it’s all a tangle in my head.”

“Don’t tell the templars. I-I don’t know what they’d do to me. Please. I need to go back, tell them I’m all right. Tell my sister... I-I must go.“

Hawke: Blood mages have infiltrated your ranks. They’ve been implanting your recruits with demons.

Macha: D-Demons? Did you say something about recruits and demons?

Keran: I didn’t want to tell you, Macha. They... they were horrible.

(...)

Cullen: Thank you for your service. I will relieve Keran of his commission now, pending investigation. If there is any chance he still harbors a demon in him--

Macha: No! You can’t really think that! Keran’s fine. He’s safe.

(...)

Keran: Please, ser. I tried to resist. I never took anything they offered. I-I need this position or my sister can’t eat. I’ve been training for five years!

Hawke: We conducted tests on Keran. He’s not possessed. He can stay in the Order.

Cullen: I hesitate to ask what methods you used that you are so certain. Still, you have done much for us by stopping these blood mages. I will heed your request. If he has shown no sign of demonic possession in ten years’ time, Keran will become eligible for full knighthood.

Macha: Thank you, serah. Again. But without a full knighthood, Keran’s pay is so small... I do not know if I can reward you as you deserve--