Microtypography

Straight vs Typographic Quotes

Straight ASCII quote marks are generic keyboard characters; typographic quotation marks and apostrophes have opening, closing, and locale-dependent forms.

Reviewed 2026-08-20Locale and house-style dependentContext required
CategoryMicrotypography
Rule strengthLocale and house-style dependent
Locale applicabilityall
Avellio detectionSupported
Issue identifiersSTRAIGHT_QUOTESMART_QUOTE
Correction authorityExact apostrophes or locally unambiguous single characters may enter Review Queue; complete quote pairing remains manual.

Definition

In professional prose, straight marks usually indicate unconverted input. The correct replacement cannot always be inferred one character at a time because apostrophes, primes, nested quotations, measurements, and code use similar glyphs.

BAD vs GOOD

BAD
Straight marks

"Designer's proof"

GOOD
Typographic marks

“Designer’s proof”

Why it matters

Correct direction and nesting clarify quoted speech and contractions while preserving a consistent typographic voice.

Rule strength

Locale and house-style dependent. This is not an absolute linguistic law; locale, genre, content, and house style can change the correct decision.

Exceptions and editorial considerations

  • Code, identifiers, data, feet/inch notation, primes, and deliberately neutral plain text.
  • The preferred primary quote pair varies by language and publisher.

How to fix it manually

  1. Confirm paragraph language and the publication’s quote hierarchy.
  2. Distinguish apostrophes and primes from quotation marks.
  3. Correct complete pairs and nesting, then proof punctuation placement.

Adobe InDesign guidance

Use the document’s language and Typographer’s Quotes settings carefully. Find/Change is useful only when the character’s role is unambiguous.

How Avellio detects it

Avellio emits STRAIGHT_QUOTE for ASCII quotation marks or apostrophes and SMART_QUOTE for marks inconsistent with the resolved locale.

Action safety

Exact apostrophes or locally unambiguous single characters may enter Review Queue; complete quote pairing remains manual.

Check this automatically in Adobe InDesign

Language and locale differences

EN USEN Intl

Curly double primary and curly single nested forms are common, but publisher style governs.

EN UKEN AUEN NZ

Single primary quotation marks are common in many publishing styles; enforcement remains conservative.

Compare all published language and locale guides.

Authoritative references

  1. Avellio User Manual — Locale profile referenceAvellio product source
  2. Avellio User Manual — Complete issue identifier referenceAvellio product source
  3. Avellio User Manual — The Action LayerAvellio product source
  4. W3C Internationalization — Quote marksInternationalization reference

Avellio references document product behavior. External standards and authorities support the general or locale-specific typographic guidance. Where traditions disagree, this page states the disagreement instead of manufacturing one universal rule.