Re: When is a first letter not a :first-letter?

2008/6/30 Ambrose Li <ambrose.li@gmail.com>:
> 2008/6/30 David Walbert <dwalbert@learnnc.org>:
>> At the same time, I wonder about initial punctuation. If I want a drop cap
>> at the top of a page, but the first sentence starts with a quotation,
>> traditional practice is to remove the initial quotation mark. If I don't
>> remove the punctuation the drop cap would look silly, but I leave it in and
>> CSS does not consider punctuation a "first-letter", then presumably there's
>> no drop cap
>
> I distinctly remember I saw somewhere that setting the punctuation
> alongside the drop cap is (no longer considered ab)normal nowadays.
> But I don't remember where I saw it. Maybe I could try to locate the
> reference.

I found my reference; it is "The Elements of Typographic Style" by Robert
Bringhurst, pp. 64-65, under the discussion of "versals" (drop caps):

  4.1.5 If the text begins with a quotation, include the initial quotation mark.

While I don't agree with everything in Bringhurst's book, it does carry some
weight.

-- 
cheers,
-ambrose

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