Template:Char/doc

The purpose of this template is to show examples of typographic symbols, using a box designed to look a bit like a metal sort. This is done for consistent style and to avoid confusion between the glyph and the markup, to make it clear which marks are actually part of the symbol and its actual width. It replaces a variety of notations – parentheses, quotes, angle-brackets, {{code}}, italics etc. – that were being used inconsistently in many articles.

This template should be used when it is necessary to clearly show what part of a glyph is surrounding whitespace, for tiny graphemes, or for when angle brackets are confusing (such as when the character is itself a bracket). Where no such risk arises, the angle bracket notation ({{angbr}}) is generally preferred.

Usage

{{char|x}} → x

By design, this template does not change the font from that used by the adjacent text, though it removes underscores if the contents are linked. It is recommended that any desired font markup be put inside the template (in case a future version uses characters instead of a box). For example,the form of some symbols (such as quote marks) are more evident in serif form than in sans-serif:

• Serif: ‘; sans-serif: ‘ (U+2018 ‘ LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK)
• Serif: ’; sans-serif: ’ (U+2019 ’ RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK)
• Serif: '; sans-serif: ' (U+0027 ' APOSTROPHE)

Templates may be stacked, for example {{char|{{big|{{red|{{serif|‘}}}}}}}} produces ‘

Markup can also be inside the template: {{char|'''B'''}} produces B

See also

• {{code}} → x: sets the highlighted text in monospaced sans-serif <code> format (inline)
• {{angle bracket}} → ⟨x⟩: identifies the character as a grapheme by setting it between angle brackets (inline). [Short form is {{angbr}}.]
• {{symb}}: shows a symbol in a very large sans-serif font, in a right-aligned box with light blue background (boxed) ⇒⇒⇒
  x
• {{key}} → x: shows a symbol in a simulated 3D surround, to suggest a keyboard element.