Use Smart Quotes, Never Straight
Smart (curly) quotes are the hallmark of professional typography. Straight quotes are a typewriter remnant and belong only in code. Dumb quotes in headlines are especially noticeable.
Use UTF-8 encoding and normalize content at build or render time. Enable smart-quote conversion in the CMS or build pipeline.
Incorrect (straight/dumb quotes):
<p>"It's a beautiful day," she said.</p>
<p>The "best" option isn't always obvious.</p>Correct (smart/curly quotes):
<p>“It’s a beautiful day,” she said.</p>
<p>The “best” option isn’t always obvious.</p>Or using UTF-8 directly:
<p>“It’s a beautiful day,” she said.</p>Key characters:
| Character | Name | HTML Entity | Mac Shortcut |
|---|---|---|---|
| “ | Left double quote | “ |
Opt+[ |
| ” | Right double quote | ” |
Opt+Shift+[ |
| ‘ | Left single quote | ‘ |
Opt+] |
| ’ | Right single quote / apostrophe | ’ |
Opt+Shift+] |
Use single quotes inside double quotes (US convention). Reserve straight quotes exclusively for code contexts.