HTML Entity

Special Characters

Special characters in HTML have special meanings and are not typically found on a keyboard. They are essential for formatting and presenting content correctly on web pages. These characters include symbols, mathematical notations, and foreign letters. In HTML, special characters must be replaced with their corresponding character entities to avoid syntax errors and rendering issues.

For example, the less-than symbol (<) and the greater-than symbol (>) are reserved characters in HTML used to enclose tags. To display these characters on a web page, they should be replaced with their corresponding character entities: < should be replaced with < and > should be replaced with >.

Properly addressing special characters in HTML is crucial because improper handling can lead to rendering errors, such as symbols not displaying correctly or causing conflicts with HTML syntax. Therefore, it's important to know which character entities to use for specific special characters to ensure web pages display correctly across different browsers and devices.

Examples of Special Characters

Special characters have distinct meanings or functions in various programming languages and markup languages. These characters are used to represent specific actions or display certain formatting in text documents, websites, and other digital platforms.

Common Examples

• Ampersand (&): Used to identify an HTML entity or represent logical operations.
• Less Than (<): Used to introduce HTML tags or compare values in code.
• Greater Than (>): Used to close HTML tags or compare values in code.

Understanding these examples of special characters helps in appreciating their significance in different contexts.

Unicode Characters

Unicode characters play a crucial role in HTML coding as they allow the representation of a vast range of symbols, letters, and characters from different writing systems worldwide. HTML relies on Unicode to ensure that various languages and scripts can be displayed accurately on different devices and platforms.

Unicode characters are encoded using unique numerical values, known as code points, which are then represented in HTML coding. These code points are typically written as an ampersand followed by a pound sign and the corresponding numerical value, followed by a semicolon. For example, the code point for the Euro sign (€) is €.

ISO 8859-1 Character Entities, also known as Latin-1 entities, are a subset of Unicode characters commonly used in HTML coding. These entities provide a method to represent characters that are not found on a standard keyboard or are difficult to type. For instance, the copyright symbol (©) is represented as © and the accented letter é is represented as é.

Overview of Unicode Characters

Unicode characters are a standardized system to represent most of the characters used in writing all over the world. These characters are essential for various purposes, including text processing, communication, and programming.

Examples

• Space Character (U+0020): Used to create spaces between words, lines, or other elements in text.
• Period (U+002E): Used to indicate the end of a sentence, abbreviations, or decimal numbers.

When using Unicode characters in XML and HTML, be aware of any restrictions to ensure compatibility and proper rendering.

How to Include Unicode Characters in HTML Code

Including Unicode characters in HTML code allows web developers to display a wide range of symbols and special characters on their web pages. Unicode is a standard character encoding system that supports a vast collection of characters from different writing systems. By incorporating Unicode characters, developers can enhance the visual appeal and functionality of their websites while ensuring proper rendering across various devices and browsers.

Steps to Include Unicode Characters

1. Identify the Unicode character you need.
2. Find the corresponding code point for that character.
3. Use the code point in your HTML code.

For example, to display the Euro sign (€), use €.

Character Entities

Character entities in HTML are special codes used to display reserved characters that have specific meanings in HTML markup. These characters, when used in regular HTML code, may cause conflicts or display issues. Character entities help avoid these problems by representing reserved characters in a way that can be properly rendered by web browsers.

Formats

• Entity Names: Human-readable codes that represent specific characters. For example, < represents the less than symbol (<).
• Entity Numbers: Numeric codes that correspond to characters in the ASCII or Unicode character sets. For example, < is the entity number for the less than symbol.

Commonly Used Character Entities in HTML

When creating a webpage, it is important to display special characters correctly. HTML uses a set of character entities to represent these characters that cannot be easily typed on a keyboard or may cause parsing issues.

Common Examples

• Copyright Symbol (©): ©
• Euro Symbol (€): €

By incorporating these character entities in HTML code, you can ensure that special characters are correctly displayed and avoid any potential parsing errors.

Single Character Entities

Single character entities refer to the use of a single character, such as a letter or symbol, to represent a specific concept or entity. These entities are commonly used in various fields, such as computer programming, mathematics, and linguistics.

Purpose

The purpose of using single character entities is to provide a concise and efficient way of representing information. By using a single character, complex concepts can be expressed in a compact and readable manner.

Examples

• Ampersand (&): Commonly used to represent the logical operator "AND" in programming.

How to Use Single Character Entities in HTML Code

To use single character entities in HTML code, follow these instructions:

1. Identify the single character that needs to be addressed.
2. Find the corresponding entity number for that character.
3. Use the entity number in your HTML code to display the character correctly.

For example, the entity number for the copyright symbol is ©. To display this character in HTML, use the following code: ©.