Special Characters and Foreign Languages

Special Characters

Occasionally you may need a special character that isn't available on your keyboard. Maybe you want to

  • ask a question in Spanish, after the em dash— ¿ Hablas Español?
  • show that more information is available under the hamburger ☰ or options ⋮ menu, or
  • indicate that Coke™ is trademarked and best kept at 45°F.

The special character codes in these examples are:

Examples of Special Characters
Character Name Symbol Code
em dash — —
inverted question mark ¿ ¿
tilde ñ ñ
hamburger menu ☰ ☰
verticle elipsis (options menu) ⋮ ⋮
trademark ™ ™
degree ° °

 

To use special characters, just find the code, copy it, and add it to the page in the HTML editor view. You can find lists of codes and symbols in the Resources section below.

 

Numeric and Named Codes

Many special characters have both named and numeric codes, while some only have one or the other. For example, the ± symbol can be added using either ± or ±. There is no difference between the two types of code, though the named version may make it easier to remember. 

 

Accessibility 

Screen reading software varies in support for special characters. If you have math content, please use the built-in math editor in Canvas, MathML, or LaTeX; otherwise, even the most basic math content will not be read correctly. For more information about how screen readers interact with special characters, including a list of words that are compatible, visit this resource about screen readers and typographic symbols Links to an external site..

 

Foreign Language

Did you know that if you have content that is in a foreign language, it should be labeled in the code so that it is read correctly by screen readers? Screen readers can read page text in different languages with the correct accent, but only if the language of the text is specified correctly. This is true for web pages and documents.

On a Canvas page, the default language is English, so if you have some content in a different language, you may need to use special characters as described above, as well as identifying the language of the text.

For example, you have the Spanish phrase, "Hasta la vista," on your page. How do you indicate that it is Spanish?

  1. Identify the correct language code (see the link to a page of language codes in Resources). For example, Spanish is "es."
  2. In the HTML editor, add <span> tags and the correct language code. For example, <span lang="es">Hasta la vista</span>

 

Resources