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This might be a rookie question, but I've pondered it and can't find a definitive answer.

What should you use when coding out a special character in your website? HTML Entity Decimal, HTML Entity Hexadecimal, or Unicode Code Point. What are the differences and Best to use?

Example: ō

  • Unicode Code Point U+014D
  • HTML Entity (Decimal) ō
  • HTML Entity (Hexadecimal) ō
  • URL Escape Code %C5%8D

https://graphemica.com/%C5%8D

RooksStrife
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  • In HTML, only the second and third ones are valid. They're called character references by the way, not entities. The entity would be ō. But why not just write ō instead? – Mr Lister May 21 '20 at 17:28
  • Does this answer your question? [HTML5: which is better - using a character entity vs using a character directly?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9808098/html5-which-is-better-using-a-character-entity-vs-using-a-character-directly) – Mike Pierce Sep 21 '22 at 16:31

1 Answers1

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In general you should just write the literal character. If you write a web page in Japanese you don't convert every character to an HTML entity...

If you have difficulty typing the character, it may make sense to use a named entity, like Ψ. As long as you aren't making a whole document into entities it doesn't matter if you have a few characters as entities rather than literal characters.

Also two of your four options are not applicable:

  • Unicode Code Point U+014D: You can't write "unicode code points" to anything, they're not a data format, it's a lookup number for the Unicode spec.
  • URL Escape Code %C5%8D: This doesn't work in HTML, it's only used in query strings.
polm23
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