Unicode Explained

If you use markup such the HTML markup <td nowrap>foo ‑bar</td>, where the now

rap attribute forbids line breaks inside the td (table cell) element, you achieve the same

effect as using a nonbreaking hyphen (<td>foo&#8209;bar</td>). That way, you avoid

the risks involved in this relatively poorly supported character. On the other hand, if

the content is saved as plain text from a browser or copied and pasted, the information

in the markup is lost.

Example: Formatting in Word Processing

Suppose that you need to write the notation K

a

when composing a document in a word

processor. The practical method is to write the letters “Ka,” then select the letter “a”

with the mouse and use the word processor’s tools for making text appear as subscript.

For example, in MS Word you would use the command Format → Font, and then check

the box for “Subscript.” The character data, as Unicode characters, does not change,

but formatting information is added to it, in the internal format that the word processor

uses.

You can exchange data between different word processors without losing such for-

matting information. Word processors can often read files in formats written by other

word processors. Moreover, you can save the document in the RTF format (Rich Text

Format), which preserves the formatting, including subscripting.

In theory, you could alternatively use the Unicode character Latin subscript small letter

“a” ...