Blogging Tip: Dashes

I'm working part time as a communications assistant. I love it and I'm learning so much about writing and the communications world. So I wanted to share something that I've learned with you all today, something that has come in really handy in my own blogging. And that's dashes.

Ever since I learned at work that different dashes have different uses, I've been a big advocate of correct dash use. There are three basic kinds of dashes: hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes. I'm no expert, but I thought I'd share how I think of each one.

First up, hyphens. They're the easiest to use, but also the ugliest and least useful in graphic design.

Now for some territory that is probably less familiar: en dashes.

And finally, my favorite dash of all, the em dash. I forgot to put this in the image, but understandably, em dashes got their names from supposedly being the same width as an uppercase M.

So that's all well and good, right? Hooray for dashes! But they won't do us much good unless we can use them. And the good news is that with just a tiny little bit of HTML code, we can use them in blogs and website. Yippee! Here's a quick cheat sheet explaining what to do to get each dash in your blog.

I used to use hyphens - like this - in place of dashes—like this—but now that I've figured out the quick and easy way to use real dashes, I'm definitely a fan. I personally think using real dashes in blogs give posts a more polished look.

Quick note: I know the code for en and em dashes looks really weird, but that really is what you do: ampersand, ndash/mdash, and then a semicolon.

Was this post helpful, or irritatingly nerdy? :) Would you all be interested in some more HTML related posts? I don't know much, but I'm learning little by little and I'm happy to share things along the way. Let me know what you think.