I would go only for typewriter quotes. I think they don't deserve to be called "dumb". They are easy for metrics, they avoid the use of wrong quotation marks at the end and the beginning of a word, and they can be as beautiful as the curly ones.
You make some good points. And if the apostrophe is curly that would be enough contrast. The only problem is cases where you can't tell if the quote is opening or closing.
Nonetheless, he does point out the major fail of “smart quote” apps that has entrenched <quoteleft> as the usage for an eliding (abbreviating) apostrophe at the beginning of words and numbers.
This has been going on for 20 years—isn’t there anything that can be done about it—does nobody care?
Would it make any difference if we all started including U+02BC in our fonts?
Not having an “(un)smart quotes” feature at all? If the user cares about proper quotes/apostrophe he will find a way to input the right characters, if he don’t then why bother trying to outsmart him?
You make some good points. And if the apostrophe is curly that would be enough contrast. The only problem is cases where you can't tell if the quote is opening or closing.
Could you give an example of one of those cases? Correct me if I am wrong, opening quotes go always before a word and closing ones after, without a space in between.
Comments
There are. See the link I posted previously:
https://tedclancy.wordpress.com/2015/06/03/which-unicode-character-should-represent-the-english-apostrophe-and-why-the-unicode-committee-is-very-wrong/
U+0027: "Apostrophe", which is also used for a single "dumb" quote and the single prime/tick mark. To me this should generally be avoided.
U+2019: Single "smart" close quote. This one is fine.
U+02BC: The "modifier letter" apostrophe, which we should be using for any apostrophe.
This has been going on for 20 years—isn’t there anything that can be done about it—does nobody care?
Would it make any difference if we all started including U+02BC in our fonts?
@Nick Shinn Including U+02BC in our fonts is the absolute minimum.
Surprise, writing is full of ambiguities.
Not having an “(un)smart quotes” feature at all? If the user cares about proper quotes/apostrophe he will find a way to input the right characters, if he don’t then why bother trying to outsmart him?
People need guidance. That's basic humanity.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/48413419@N00/30855829843/in/dateposted-public/
Ironically, smart enough to hang the mark.
@María Ramos I guess you're right, it's practically non-existent.