Smart quotes vs. straight quotes
Last reviewed: 2026-06-21
Smart quotes — also called curly or typographic quotes — are the directional quotation marks (“ ”) and apostrophes (‘ ’) used in professionally set prose, which curve toward the text they enclose. Straight quotes (" and ') are the vertical, non-directional marks inherited from the typewriter and still used in code.
What the difference is
Typographically, the "correct" marks for running text are curly: an opening double quote (“) and a closing one (”), an opening single quote (‘) and a closing one (’), with the closing single quote doubling as the apostrophe in "don’t" and "it’s". These are smart quotes. Straight quotes (" and ') are ambiguous — the same character serves as both opening and closing, and the straight apostrophe is the same mark again. They survive because early computers had limited character sets and keyboards still produce them by default.
There is also a separate technical use: in HTML, CSS, and most programming languages, straight quotes are required to delimit strings and attribute values. A curly quote in code is a syntax error. So straight quotes are correct in markup and smart quotes are correct in prose — the trouble comes when the two contexts blur.
Why it matters for website copy
On the web, quotation marks arrive from many sources, and they rarely agree. A word processor auto-converts to smart quotes; typing directly into a plain CMS field often yields straight ones; copy pasted from another site brings whatever that site used; a developer hard-coding a string may leave straight quotes in the visible text. The result is a single page — sometimes a single sentence — that mixes "curly" and "straight" marks, or uses a straight apostrophe in one word and a curly one in the next. It is subtle, but to a careful reader it looks unfinished.
Using straight quotes everywhere is a defensible deliberate choice; using smart quotes everywhere is the typographic ideal; mixing them is the actual error. Quotation marks and apostrophes are punctuation, so the choice and its consistency fall squarely within a proofreading pass — the kind of detail that is invisible until you notice the page can’t decide which marks it uses.
Common mistakes
The most common mistake is mixing the two within the same body of text, usually because the copy came from several sources. Another is the "foot and inch" trap: straight marks are correct for feet (5') and inches (5"), and people sometimes use a curly apostrophe there by mistake, or a straight apostrophe in a contraction where a curly one belongs. A third is putting smart quotes inside code or an HTML attribute, which breaks it — smart quotes belong in prose, straight quotes in markup.
Related terms & reading
Related reading: its consistency.
Frequently asked questions
Which is correct, smart quotes or straight quotes?
For running prose, smart (curly) quotes are the typographic ideal. For code, HTML, and attribute values, straight quotes are required. Many sites use straight quotes everywhere as a deliberate, consistent choice, which is also defensible. The real error is mixing the two within the same text.
Why do my quotation marks look inconsistent on the page?
Usually because the copy came from different sources — a word processor that auto-curls quotes, a plain CMS field that produces straight ones, and pasted text that brings its own. Each contributes a different mark, so one page ends up mixing curly and straight quotes and apostrophes.