I'm Down With Em & En

Screen typography has always been a whipping boy for frustrated print designers. There ain't no fancy-pants Quark type palettes around here. Besides...dude, who cares about old school stuff like leading, kerning, or smart quotes? This is the new economy! The future! The end of print!

Well, truth is typography matters, damn't. It always has, and it's high time web designers used the tools at their disposal. CSS has been a God-send, but it's not enough if you don't know the difference between an em, an en, a hyphen, or a minus sign.

Fortunately, Peter K .Sheerin has drafted a kick ass article, "The Trouble with Em & En" over at A List Apart, that is really worth reading.

But let's be honest. This level of typographic perfection requires patience, time, and a damn good text editor. Until the day narrow-minded usability assholes lose their voice and the web is allowed to progress past Netscape 4, proper screen typography will be an uphill battle. Someday, hopefully, a genius will build a cross-platform text editor designed for smart web typography, and nothing else.

Related Links: I picked up an old copy from the seventies at a library sale, but Strunks' classic "The Elements of Style" is available, free, online, for all the world to read. Print it out, get some glue, and paste up your walls with it. A manifesto of good writing techniques that will never go out of style.