Lesson 2.01 — HTML Special

One of the things that makes HTML so special is the wealth of characters you can include on your pages. I mean, instead of using "1/2" and "--", you can use "½" and "—". Now, doesn't that just make your heart race?

Seriously, these special characters are indispensable sometimes. You code them as so: &#xxx;. All you do is replace "xxx" with the three-digit number or other secret code for the character you want to appear in the browser. "Yeah", I hear you saying, "but how do I know what the secret code is?" Well, you don't need a Dick Tracy decoder ring or anything — all you need is yet another cheat sheet (if you're starting to get the impression that there are lots of cheat sheets out there, you get a smiley face for the day).

Here are some characters you might find especially handy:

•   — non-breaking space (use it when, e.g., you don't want a line break between two words or you want more than one space at the beginning of a line)
• — — the infamous em-dash (—), which looks better than "--"
• & — ampersand (&)
• © or © — copyright symbol (©)
• é — so you can get that nice accent in Saint-André (or, perhaps more important for you, résumé)!

Now let's have some Fun With Fonts.