Whether you're creating a brochure or white paper in Microsoft Word or updating text in HTML, sometimes you want to make sure two words always appear on the same line of body text. Here are examples, using an underscore to illustrate where you'd want to "lock" two words together on the same line: July_24, 2011; Mr._John Jacobs; and (a)_the first item and (b)_the second item. In addition, if the body text is left justified (ragged right margin), visual appeal is better preserved if the last word of an unusually long line of text is moved to the next line with the word that follows it.
Placing a nonbreaking space between two words serves this function nicely.
IN MICROSOFT WORD, instead of just pressing the Spacebar between the two words you’d like to lock together, press Control-Shift-Spacebar. (If you’re curious and want to click on the Show/Hide Formatting icon—the one that looks like a paragraph symbol—to display the codes, you’ll see the nonbreaking space displays as a degree symbol instead of a dot between the words.) Even if this text is now flowed into an InDesign document or saved as a PDF, the nonbreaking space still does its job.
IN HTML TEXT (while in the HTML view mode of your web-editing software), instead of typing a regular space between the two words you’d like to lock together, go to the HTML view and insert a nonbreaking space between the two words by typing these six characters and symbols (but without the intervening spaces): & n b s p ;
(ampersand n b s p semicolon). Another application: You can use a series of nonbreaking spaces at the beginning of a paragraph to achieve the appearance of a first-line paragraph indent.
Use a Nonbreaking Hyphen to Lock a Hyphenated
Word
Together
on the Same Line
Would you like to make sure the two portions of a hyphenated word such
as e‑book always appear on the same line of body text in Microsoft
Word or in HTML, so they're never split between lines? Then you'll love this
tip.
IN MICROSOFT WORD, instead of just pressing the hyphen key in that word, press
Control-Shift-Hyphen. (If you’re curious and want to click on the Show/Hide Formatting icon—the one that looks like a paragraph symbol—to display the codes, you’ll see the
hyphen looks a little longer than an ordinary hyphen.) Even if this text is now flowed into an InDesign document or saved as a PDF, the nonbreaking
hyphen still does its job.
IN HTML TEXT (while in the HTML view mode of your web-editing software), instead of typing a regular hyphen between the two portions
of the hyphenated word you’d like to lock together, go to the HTML view and insert a nonbreaking
hyphen at the appropriate location by typing these seven numbers and symbols (but without the intervening spaces): & #
8 2 0 9 ;
(ampersand pound-sign 8 2 0 9 semicolon).
Use an Em Dash (Long Dash)
Instead
of a Double Hyphen
Nothing says "typewriter" (remember those?)
like a pair of hyphens trying to look like a long dash (officially called
an em dash, so called
because it's the length of an uppercase M in the font set you're
using).
IN MICROSOFT WORD, depending on your settings at the time
you type the double hyphen, once you type the word following the double
hyphen and then press the space bar, the double hyphen may automatically transform into
a long dash. But if it doesn't, then place
your cursor where you'd like the long dash to appear, and go to Insert,
Symbol, and scroll down the resulting set of symbols until you see the em dash; click on it and insert it into your document. (If you're unsure whether
you've selected the right symbol, then make sure, when you click on it in the symbol
list, that somewhere in that Symbols window you see displayed
the words "EM DASH"—not to be confused with the somewhat
shorter en dash, which is the width of an uppercase N.) Now delete
the unwanted double hyphen.
In HTML TEXT (while in the HTML view mode of your web-editing software), click to the position where you'd like the em dash to appear
and then type these seven characters and symbols (but without the intervening
spaces): & m d a s h ; (ampersand m d a s h semicolon).
Use an En Dash (the Symbol for To,
Through, or Minus)
Instead
of a Hyphen
A hyphen is not the correct symbol to use
in writing or statistics to represent the word to or through,
or to represent a minus sign. Instead, to make your writing look more professional,
use the en dash, which is the width of an uppercase N.
It's appropriate to use an en dash in circumstances such as these: pages 15–35
(not pages 15‑35), April 11–15 (not April 11‑15), or a grade of an A–
(not an A‑). (Note: The difference in width between the hyphen and
the en dash is more subtle in fonts such as this one, than it is in
others.)
IN MICROSOFT WORD, depending on your settings at the time
you type a word or number, followed by a space, hyphen, space, word or number, and another space, your hyphen may automatically transform into the wider en dash. But if it doesn't, then place
your cursor where you'd like the en dash to appear, and go to Insert,
Symbol, and scroll down the resulting set of symbols until you see the en dash and insert it into your document. (If you're unsure whether
you've selected the right symbol, then make sure, when you click on it in the symbol
list, that somewhere in that Symbols window you see displayed
the words "EN DASH"—not to be confused with the somewhat
longer em dash, which is the width of an uppercase M.) Now delete
the unwanted hyphen.
In HTML TEXT (while in the HTML view mode of your web-editing software), click to the position where you'd like the en dash to appear
and then type these seven characters and symbols (but without the intervening
spaces): & n d a s h ; (ampersand n d a s h semicolon).
