The Standard ISO Keyboard Character Set

character set standards

ISO LATIN

(International Standards Organization)
Many characters are accessible through
a standard computer keyboard,
regardless of the font used, thanks to
ASCII, the international arm of the ISO.
Some of the more specialized characters
may be accessed though a specific
"expert" font set of a particular typeface.

ASCII

(American Standard Code for Information
Interchange) This is the code system for
converting alphanumeric characters into
computer readable codes. It Is limited to 128
characters, but covers up to 256 separate
characters in its extended (ANSI) form.

ANSI

(The American National Standards Institute)
This character set includes a total of 256
characters (the first 128 are ASCII).

Expert

Not a set standard, but one that Includes
specialized characters such as small caps,
oldstyle figures, ligatures, and other
miscellaneous characters. Also known as
SCOSF (small caps, oldstyle figures). Some
expert characters replace similar characters
found in the standard ISO keyboard set.

keystroke symbols

S = Shift key

О = Option key

SO = Shift + Option keys

/X = A second keystroke, usually a vowel

to complete an accent use.

Proofreaders’ Marks

These simple marks are used by humans when they take typographic law into their own hands.
They are used to signal others that something is wrong and must be corrected.

analphabetic symbols

alphabetic symbols

accent symbols

numeric & mathematical symbols

currency symbols

instruction

symbol 8i name

keystroke

symbol & name

keystroke

symbol & name

keystroke

symbol 8i name

keystroke

symbol 8< name

keystroke

Delete

& ampersand

&

@ "at"

@

acute

Oe/X

= approximately equal

Ox

П international currency

S02

Delete, close up space

\ backslash

\

© copyright

Og

Á acute, cap A

SOy

decimal (midpoint dot)

S09

/ guilder

Of

{ brace, open

{

A delta

Oj

Í acute, cap 1

SOs

0 degree

S08

£ sterling

03

Insert

} brace, close

}

Œ diphthong (ethel), cap OE SOq

Ó acute, cap 0

SOh

-5- division

О/

¥ yen

Oy

• bullet

08

œ diphthong (ethel), l/с oe Oq

U acute, cap U

SO;

= equals

=

$ dollar

$

Let It stand

л caret

Л

Æ diphthong (aesc)

SO'

breve

SO.

/ solidus (fraction bar)

SOI

04

Spell out

: colon

æ diphthong (aesc)

0'

carib (caron)

sot

> greater than

>

... ellipsis

0;

1 dotless i

SOb

Ç cedilla, cap

SOc

> greater than or equal

0.

pictographic symbols

Transpose

— em rule (em dash)

SO-

ß eszett

Os

ç cedilla, l/c

Oc

°° Infinity

05

— en rule (en dash)

0-

/ florin

Of

circumflex

Oi/X

J Integral

Ob

symbol

key

Move left

! exclamation

!

fi ligature, fl

S05

A circumflex, cap A

SOm

< less than

<

^ apple

SOk

Move right

« guillemot, open double

0\

fl ligature, fl

S06

Î circumflex, cap 1

SOd

< less than or equal

0,

* asterisk

*

» guillemot, close double

so\

|J. mu

Om

Ô circumflex, cap 0

SOj

-i logical not (negation)

01

f dagger

Ot

Move up

< guillemot, open single

S03

£2 omega

Oz

0 danish cap 0

SOo

0 lozenge

SOv

ф double dagger

S07

> guillemot, close single

S04

5 paragraph

07

dlaeresls/umlaut

Ou/X

macron

so,

Move down

- hyphen

-

® registered

Or

I diaeresis, cap 1

SOf

minus

-

Align

( parentheses, open

(

§ section

06

dot accent (overdot)

Oh

Ф not equal to

0=

) parentheses, close

)

™ trademark

02

grave

0 IX

# octothorp (hash)

#

period

Ò grave, cap 0

SOI

Э partial differential

Od

Straighten line

1 pipe

1

" hungarian umlaut

SOg

% per cent

%

Insert space

? query (question mark)

?

t ogonek

SOx

71 pi

Op

quote, open double

0[

a ordfeminlne

09

+ plus

+

Equalize space

quote, close double

SOI

° ordmasculine

00

+ plus or minus

so=

quote, open single

voile (ring)

Ok

" prime, double

"

Close up

(open apostrophe)

0]

 Swedish cap A

SOa

prime, single

'

ОП СПДГР

quote, close single

â Swedish l/с a

Oa

П product

SOp

cl 1 o[JdLc

(close apostrophe)

SO]

tilde

On/X

V radical

Ov

em space

„ quote, double baseline

SOw

/ virgule

/

, quote, single baseline

soo

X summation

Ow

Run In

; semicolon

;

~ swung dash

~

¡ Spanish exclamation

01

1 vertical bar

1

New paragraph

¿ Spanish query

SO/

[ square bracket, open

[

] square bracket, close

]

Flush paragraph

_ underline

s-

mark in margin

r

©
s hadj

(sfef)

(si

П

u

mark in text

the mean'character
the character

the character

A

the shady character
©characters

th e (ch a ra ctej/sh a dy
I the character
thelcharacter
character
character

the

the shady character
the hapless victim

the

character

thecharacter

A

the^shadycharacter
the char acter

^he character
^he character
This is a case of formal

foul play.

"What is this?#y"lt is a serif.
Dingbat!" A

"What is this?7"lt is a serif.
Dingbat!"

corrected type

the character
the character
the shady character
the shady character
two characters

the shady character

the character

the character

the character

the character

the shady character
the hapless victim

the character

the character

the shady character

the character

the character

the character

This is a case of formal foul play.

"What is this?"

"It is a serif, Dingbat!"

"What is this?"

"It is a serif, Dingbat!"

instruction

mark in margin

mark in text

corrected type

period

Ѳ

This is a difficult case

This is a difficult case.

comma

letter word^sentence

letter, word, sentence

hyphen

Â

le^point character

18-point character

colon

Ѳ

Episode One The Crime Scene

Episode One: The Crime Scene

semicolon

*

Collect the evidence^olve the case.

Collect the evidence; solve the case.

apostrophe

N/'

Inspector Fleurons partner

Inspector Fleuron's partner

double quotation marks

this'shad^character

this "shady" character

single quotation marks

"thisYhad\^haracter"

this "'shady' character"

en dash

1

N

1450^present

1450-present

em dash

1

M

This characters shady sorVis
one of the 10most wanted.

This character—a shady sort—is
one of the 10 most wanted.

virgule (slash)

/

this nice/mean character

this nice/mean character

three ellipses

ІѲІѲІѲІ

this character

this...character

four ellipses ОЮЮІѲІ

this character

this character....

upper case

this shady character

This SHADY character

lower case

Ѳ

This $hady Character

this shady character

small capitals

this shady character

this shady character

italic

(ffaj)

this shady character

this shady character

roman

(fory

this (shady character)

this shady character

boldface

©

this shady character

this shady character

lightface

©

this shady character

this shady character

superior (superscript)
inferior (subscript)

4/

this shady character^/
this shady character2

this shady character1
this shady character

The characters, events and information portrayed in this

document are true. No names have been changed to protect

the innocent (or guilty). The ISO really exists. Only the

Laboratory of Forensic Typography is fictitious...Or is it?

This document was originally classified and could not have

been released to the public without the influence of the

following humans: Brian Morris, Angie Patchell, Natalia Price-

Cabrera, Norman Turpin, Simon Hennessey and Ray Potts,

all at Roto Vision, SA; friends and colleagues in the Department

of Communication Arts and Design, School of the Arts, at
Virginia Commonwealth University. Many thanks to the above

for helping to expose what really goes on beneath the surface

of a seemingly benign typographic wuild...^ •/
wfe