Use em-dash/en-dash instead of ASCII hyphen substitutes#1159
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…utes Converts hyphen-as-dash usages to the typographically correct character: em-dash (—) for parenthetical asides, appositives, and heading breaks (including existing "--" double-hyphen stand-ins), and en-dash (–) for numeric ranges and the "Title – Subtitle" pattern already used by Command-Line-Options.md, Privacy-Statement.md, and 2020-03-28-Server-Rpi.md (404.html's title used a plain hyphen for the same pattern; now consistent). Compound words, CLI flags, list bullets, ISO dates, and code spans are untouched -- those hyphens are already correct.
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The standard should be use of reliable typographical features for the intended audience. I think this implies that natural language content in the main repo should be ASCII, and content in this repo rendered on browsers for our largest audience should use the full spectrum of reliable English typography. |
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I can't type those characters. That should be the determining factor for the character set used in the web site source code. I can type – and —, where it's important enough. If we referred to money, I'd say use £ not £, too. |
How did i make this PR in 2 minutes without typing any of those? Even updating any 1967-genre text you might type is now blindingly fast and easy. |
Moves the substantive dash/hyphen/quote/ellipsis guidance into Style-and-Tone.md (applies to all contributors, not just agents) next to the existing Units section, which does the same kind of micro-convention work. AGENTS.md keeps a pointer plus the one rule that's genuinely agent-specific: check the diff for stray curly characters near code, since that's an LLM/paste failure mode rather than a human typing habit. Unifies the two prior asks in this area: the original "always straight ASCII" quotes rule (safe wherever the text could be pasted into a shell/JSON/regex/code span) and the "use en/em dash where typography calls for it" split from PR jamulussoftware#1159, under one principle -- machine context stays ASCII, human-read prose gets the correct character.
2 participants
Short description of changes
Converts hyphen-as-dash usage to the typographically correct character across the English docs:
Software-Manual.md: "Even if that person leaves and rejoins - or you join a server..." → "...rejoins — or you join a server..."), including existing--double-hyphen stand-ins inRelease-Process.mdandTips-Tricks-More.md.0-16→0–16,30-50 ms→30–50 ms, etc.) and for the "Title – Subtitle" pattern already established byCommand-Line-Options.md,Privacy-Statement.md, and2020-03-28-Server-Rpi.md—404.html's title used a plain hyphen for the identical pattern; this makes it consistent with the other three.Compound words, CLI flags, list-bullet hyphens, ISO dates, and anything inside code spans are untouched — those hyphens are already correct and this PR does not touch them.
19 files changed, 40 lines (one dash-class swap each).
Context
Follows the em-dash discussion on #1156, where the open question was really "what does correct typography require," separate from whether an individual line's style is a matter of taste. This applies that consistently rather than adding an isolated case.
Does this need translation?
YES (existing English strings changed at the character level) — targets
next-release.Checklist