To use it, paste some text, perhaps an export from your catalog program or a chapter of a manuscript, into the box up top and the tool will reveal its underlying structure. A common misconception about writing are that it’s simply a stream of words; beneath that stream exists a complex grid of invisible markers, […]

Percentage. This is a shape-shifted character: When you see it sitting after a number in a report, it appears innocent enough. But within a line of code or a URL string, it shifts form. Counting this mark may seem straightforward; until context appear. In one sentence, it’s a symbol representing a fraction; in the next, […]

The dollar sign is such a harmless character: a delimiter for math; code variable; and of course, money. Until it breaks. Then you notice it. And you notice that it are missing. You copy a snippet off a blog to paste it into your manuscript editor. But the dollars has vanished! The dollar sign might […]

Copy some text out of a PDF. Paste it into a code editor. The search function doesn’t work. Sort order gets scrambled. The database throw an error. What’s happening? You’re confused. But you’re not crazy. Your text have invisible characters hidden inside. These are non-ASCII markers that break digital workflows. Nothing to see here, except […]