Characters that might not be on your keyboard can be posted using the ampersand-escape method, but for numerous reasonably common characters it is also possible to use an ampersand escape with the code being a name for the character rather than a character number. To do that you would use the form:
&name;
The&once again tells the html interpreter that it's a code.
Without the # to tell it otherwise, the interpreter reads the code as a character string – i.e. as a "word."
The semicolon ;ends the code.
The characters for which "name codes" exist are called "named character entities" by the HTML standards, frequently shortened to just "character entities." There are a few character entities defined by various versions of the HTML standard, and several others that are in "common use" and can normally be expected to work. Most "HTML Textbooks" don't distinguished between the "specified" ones and the ones in general use.
Arful Codger may explain which are to be considered "useful" at mudcat, or perhaps just which ARE NOT to be considered okay here.
Note that in some cases "what you type" may be case sensitive. The following are the named character entities that my rather old handbook shows:
Instead of " you can type " " Quotation mark
Instead of & you can type & & Ampersand
Instead of < you can type < < Less than
Instead of > you can type > > Greater than
Instead of   you can type Nonbreaking space
Instead of ¡ you can type ¡ ¡ Inverted exclamation point
Instead of ¢ you can type ¢ ¢ Cent sign
Instead of £ you can type £ £ Pound sign
Instead of ¤ you can type ¤ ¤ Gen currency sign
Instead of ¥ you can type ¥ ¥ Yen sign
Instead of ¦ you can type ¦ ¦ Broken vertical bar
Instead of § you can type § § Section sign
Instead of ¨ you can type ¨ ¨ Umlaut
Instead of © you can type © © Copyright
Instead of ª you can type ª ª Feminine ordinal
Instead of « you can type « « Left angle quote
Instead of ¬ you can type ¬ ¬ Not sign
Instead of ­ you can type ­ Soft hypen
Instead of ® you can type ® ® Registered trademark
Instead of ¯ you can type ¯ ¯ Macron accent
Instead of ° you can type ° ° Degree sign
Instead of ± you can type ± ± Plus or minus
Instead of ² you can type ² ² Superscript 2
Instead of ³ you can type ³ ³ Superscript 3
Instead of ´ you can type ´ ´ Acute accent
Instead of µ you can type µ µ Micro sign (Greek mu)
Instead of ¶ you can type ¶ ¶ Paragraph sign
Instead of · you can type · · Middle dot
Instead of ¸ you can type ¸ ¸ Cedilla
Instead of ¹ you can type ¹ ¹ Superscript 1
Instead of º you can type º º Masculine ordinal
Instead of » you can type » » Right angle quote
Instead of ¼ you can type ¼ ¼ Fraction one-fourth
Instead of ½ you can type ½ ½ Fraction one-half
Instead of ¾ you can type ¾ ¾ Fraction three-fourths
Instead of ¿ you can type ¿ ¿ Inverted question mark
Instead of À you can type À À Capital A, grave accent
Instead of Á you can type Á Á Capital A, acute accent
Instead of  you can type   Captial A, circumflex accent
Instead of à you can type à à Capital A, tilde
Instead of Ä you can type Ä Ä Capital A, umlaut
Instead of Å you can type Å Å Capital A, ring
Instead of Æ you can type Æ Æ Capital AE ligature
Instead of Ç you can type Ç Ç Capital C, cedilla
Instead of È you can type È È Capital E, grave accent
Instead of É you can type É É Captal E, acute accent
Instead of Ê you can type Ê Ê Capital E, circumflex accent
Instead of Ë you can type Ë Ë Capital E, umlaut
Instead of Ì you can type Ì Ì Capital I, grave accent
Instead of Í you can type Í Í Capital I, acute accent
Instead of Î you can type Î Î Capital I, circumflex accent
Instead of Ï you can type Ï Ï Capital I, umlaut
Instead of Ð you can type Ð Ð Capital eth, Icelandic
Instead of Ñ you can type Ñ Ñ Capital N, tilde
Instead of Ò you can type Ò Ò Capital O, grave accent
Instead of Ó you can type Ó Ó Capital O, acute accent
Instead of Ô you can type Ô Ô Capital O, circumflex accent
Instead of Õ you can type Õ Õ Capital O, tilde
Instead of Ö you can type Ö Ö Capital O, umlaut
Instead of × you can type × × Multiply sign
Instead of Ø you can type Ø Ø Capital O, slash
Instead of Ù you can type Ù Ù Capital U, grave accent
Instead of Ú you can type Ú Ú Capital U, acute accent
Instead of Û you can type Û Û Capital U, circumflex accent
Instead of Ü you can type Ü Ü Capital U, umlaut
Instead of Ý you can type Ý Ý Capital Y, acute accent
Instead of Þ you can type Þ Þ Capital thorn, Icelandic
Instead of ß you can type ß ß Small sz ligature, German
Instead of à you can type à à Small a, grave accent
Instead of á you can type á á Small a, acute accent
Instead of â you can type â â Small a, circumflex accent
Instead of ã you can type ã ã Small a, tilde
Instead of ä you can type ä ä Small a, umlaut
Instead of å you can type å å Small a, ring
Instead of æ you can type æ æ Small ae ligature
Instead of ç you can type ç ç Small c, cedilla
Instead of è you can type è è Small e, grave accent
Instead of é you can type é é Small e, acute accent
Instead of ê you can type ê ê Small e, circumflex accent
Instead of ë you can type ë ë Small e, umlaut
Instead of ì you can type ì ì Small i, grave accent
Instead of í you can type í í Small i, acute accent
Instead of î you can type î î Small i, circumflex accent
Instead of ï you can type ï ï Small i, umlaut
Instead of ð you can type ð ð Small eth, Icelandic
Instead of ñ you can type ñ ñ Small n, tilde
Instead of ò you can type ò ò Small o, grave accent
Instead of ó you can type ó ó Small o, acute accent
Instead of ô you can type ô ô Small o, circumflex accent
Instead of õ you can type õ õ Small o, tilde
Instead of ö you can type ö ö Small o, umlaut
Instead of ÷ you can type ÷ ÷ Division sign
Instead of ø you can type ø ø Small o, slash
Instead of ù you can type ù ù Small u, grave accent
Instead of ú you can type ú ú Small u, acute accent
Instead of û you can type û û Small u, circumflex accent
Instead of ü you can type ü ü Small u, umlaut
Instead of ý you can type ý ý Small y, acute accent
Instead of þ you can type þ þ Small thorn, Icelandic
Instead of ÿ you can type ÿ ÿ Small y, umlaut
Note that the above "tabulation" uses a <pre> and </pre> tag and shoud show in a monospace type. If columns don't show, or if someone copies and pastes it, selecting Courier or some other mono font may straighten them out. If incorporated into the "permanent" thread, they probably should be made into a real table(?).
These named char entities are the ones commonly used in English/Roman text, and include those named in the html standard. I have NOT checked to see how many are included in the list that aren't "standard" although all of these should be read by most html website interpreters.
Other languages may include other entities based on common usage, but they're probably unlikely to be recognized correctly at mudcat. When in doubt, the numerical code should be used.
Decimal character numbers from 130 through 150 are shown in my (HTML ver 4) handbook as "sometimes won't work." I don't at present have an answer as to why they're listed if the don't; but maybe we'll get to that later.
John