Replace quotation marks with a dedicated HTML tag q about kramdown

[gettalong]

@kslstn Yes, there is no algorithm in kramdown to detect correct pairs of quotes. If you don't want quotes turned into smart quotes automatically, use the smart_quotes option.

You either need to pre-process your source files and insert <q> tags there or post-process the output of kramdown.

[doktorbro]

I forget to mention the direct way to design the quotes with CSS:

q { quotes: "\201C" "\201D" "\2018" "\2019" }

This syntax looks similar to the smart_quotes option, so I presume you know about it.

[gettalong]

The problem is that currently quotation marks are not recognized in pairs. I.e. kramdown doesn't know when a quotation starts and when it ends. It just sees a straight quotation mark, does some checking and changes the quotation mark into the one it assumes is the correct one. Therefore it is not possible to utilize the <q> tag.

[doktorbro]

I don’t see any difference between handling a pair of asterisks and a pair of quotation marks. If you apply the proven asterisk-to-emphasis-algorithm to the quotation mark, it should work like a charm.

[gettalong]

Maybe, patches are welcome!

[doktorbro]

Sorry, I don’t know ruby.

[kslstn]

The problem is that currently quotation marks are not recognized in pairs. I.e. kramdown doesn't know when a quotation starts and when it ends. It just sees a straight quotation mark, does some checking and changes the quotation mark into the one it assumes is the correct one. Therefore it is not possible to utilize the <q> tag.

Is this still the case today? I (wrongly) submitted this issue to the Jekyll project. Having <q> tags would let site makers define quotation marks in CSS, based on the language of the text in which the quote appears. Because of how Jekyll and Kramdown work together, right now, there's no way to consistently apply smart quotation marks for more than one language on a site.

[doktorbro]

@kslstn the irony is most developers don’t understand the importance of proper typography. for example jnvsor/jnvsor.github.io#1

there is one very simple workaround without extra-processing mentioned by @gettalong: abuse the strong tag. it’s applicable if you

1. do not use the real strong tag in your text;
2. do not use nested quote tags;
3. do not care about html semantics.

example

input markdown

bob: **where are you, alice?**
alice: **i’m on the *titanic*.**

input css

strong { font-weight: normal }
strong:before { content: "«" }
strong:after {  content: "»" }

output

bob: «where are you, alice?»
alice: «i’m on the titanic.»