Using Those Special Keyboard Options
Carl Shank • October 8, 2022
Have you ever wondered what those special characters are that you can access on a standard keyboard? Or, how you can use them in a document or layout or program? Robert Bringhurst in The Elements of Typographic Style (Hartley & Marks, 1992) provides some needed background and definition to these special characters we know are there, but often are never used in regular work. The chart below gives you the character, the Macintosh keystroke, and the description of what the character is and how to use it appropriately. Enjoy!
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Walter B. Gress was associated with the American printing trade during the era when letterpress printing, hot-metal composition, and mechanized presses dominated commercial printing. Rather than introducing new typefaces or typographic theories, Gress focused on practical craftsmanship, emphasizing accuracy, efficiency, and standardized production methods. Gress’s lasting contribution lies in documenting the craft knowledge of the traditional printing office. His work bridges the nineteenth-century tradition of manual typography and the increasingly mechanized printing industry of the twentieth century, preserving techniques and standards that shaped generations of American printers. His most famous work was The American Handbook of Printing (1913). This book covered nearly every aspect of an early American commercial printing office. It addressed such topics as typography and composition hand typesetting, proof correction, imposition, lock-up and presswork, paper selection, inks, estimating jobs, printing-office management and printing terminology. Gress was most interested in the professional ideals of American commercial printing in the early twentieth century, consisting of legibility over ornament, consistency in composition, careful spacing and alignment, correct use of type families, high standards of proofreading, and the efficient workflow in the composing room. His work and teaching occurred during a transitional period in printing history, where hand composition still existed alongside mechanical typesetting. Linotype and Monotype systems were becoming standard. Commercial printing was expanding rapidly. Trade schools increasingly required instructional texts.
small capitals (often called small caps) are specially designed uppercase letterforms that have the proportions and stroke weight of lowercase letters while retaining the shapes of capitals. They are not simply reduced full capitals; true small capitals are drawn specifically for the typeface. Small capitals originated during the Renaissance as printers sought a harmonious way to incorporate the dignity of Roman capitals into continuous lowercase text. Over five centuries, they became a hallmark of fine typography, especially in books, Bibles, scholarly editions, legal documents, and reference works. When properly designed as true small capitals rather than scaled-down capitals, they provide elegant emphasis, improve textual hierarchy, and contribute to the refined appearance that has characterized high-quality typography since the sixteenth century.
