Type Anatomy

Terminal Types

The most sensible terminal is the tail.

The part of a "C" before it hits the arm is a terminal.

The part of a "S" after the spine and before it hits an arm is a terminal.

The ear on a "g" is a terminal.

A swash is a terminal.

A loop, as that which wraps round the counter of a Baskerville "g", is a terminal.

A link, as that which joins the two parts of a "g", is sometimes a terminal.

The curved bit at the bottom of letters like "y" and "j", or the top of an "a", is a terminal. In Times, and other serif faces, all three of these tend to end in what is called a tail dot, so lets look at the curved bit at the bottom of the "y" and "j", as well as the top of "a" again.

The curved bit leading into and out of an italic letter, like "n", is called a pothook, or a hooked foot and is also a terminal.

Dashes

The em dash is also used to end a sentence mid-thought without usual punctuation, in dialogue, a similar effect as an ellipsis, although again it implies a stronger break in thought. When citing the author of a quote, use the em dash between the quote and the name of the author. It is also occasionally used in lieu of quotation marks to mark the beginning of quoted text, but this is an archaic method.

en dash is used more broadly: for a range of values (or similiar) use en dash (instead of a hyphen) to connect the two. Good for range of dates, series of pages, etc.> En dash should also be used for showing relationships (mother–daughter), as well as in demonstrating contrast in a (range) showing a game score, like 2–nil, or 122-109, etc.

figure dash: correct usage is in a series of numbers, like a phone number.

Hyphen

Hyphens are not true dashes; dashes are completely horizontal, while hyphens typically have a slight angle, mimicing the stroke of a pen by a right-handed writer. Use hyphens for compound words, like "Wife-Beater"; Hyphens are also used to connect words for clarity, like "The Purple People-Eaters" instead of "The Purple People Eaters". Hyphens should also be used when words split at the end of a line.

Minus Sign

Minus signs are not true dashes either; a minus sign is used only in mathematics; it's longer than a hyphen, closer in length to the en dash. Minus signs have to inserted from the character set manually, so most often a hyphen or en dash is used to substitute.

Quotes

Quotes should always point inwards;

One common method of introducing a quote is utilizing a padded en dash, or if you're feeling really crazy, occasionally an em dash, at the beginning of a line.

Apostrophe is essentially a closing single quote that always points to the left.

Ligatures

Most ligatures are intended to improve legibility by combining not ideal character combinations into a single glyph (e.g. fi, ffl, or Th), and actually improving the flow of the text. But there are some that do not fall under this definition because they do not have a place in body text; these are called discretionary ligatures (e.g. ct and st). These disrupt reading flow and are more of a distraction than an aid.

Discretionary Ligatures are best used for headers (like serif, duh), where they will disrupt the reader's flow, in the sense that you want it to...to catch their eye(s)/appeal/interest/etc. and draw them in, to read your article.

A few characters may appear to be ligatures but are actually a unique character, like æ or œ; these deceptive characters most likely originated as a ligature.

Note: the Latin "W" was born into this world as a ligature, as a combinations of two Vs, but today we recognize it as a unique character and would not use it to replace two Vs or two Us occuring together in a word.

Dashes, Quotes, and Ligatures: Typographic Best Practices