# Why do quotes show up as """ in some places? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 21, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-quotes-show-up-as-quot-in-some-places/408793 "2007-06-21T01:11:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-quotes-show-up-as-quot-in-some-places/408793/1 "2007-06-21T01:11:51Z")
Sorry if this topic has been addressed, but I can’t seem to get Google or the search engine here to properly search for “”". This seems like it should be something simple, but to my everlasting shame I can’t figure it out. If I recall correctly, there are lots of HTML (and presumably XML) codes for symbols like the quotation mark, the ampersand, etc. And you can put them in your document using these codes. So how come my browsers don’t always convert " into a quote? Do I have some setting wrong, or is this a problem with those sites? I’m using Opera 9.20, but the same thing happens on Internet Explorer and Firefox, so I don’t think it’s the browser’s fault (though of course I could be missing something). The particular instance that has irritated me enough to ask this question, thus opening myself up to the extremely high likelihood of looking like a moron, is that I’m trying to read the forums for the illustrious webcomic The Order of the Stick. Their forums use the same software the SDMB uses, vBulletin. But for some reason, lots of their quote marks show up as " instead of quote marks. Take a look here: > **[Could The Giant give us a pronounce guide?](https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?t=4992)** > > I can pronounce Greenhilt, Starshine, Redcloak, etc, but can't Vaarsuvius, Xykon....Could The Giant give us a pronounce guide? > > Thanks. The second post shows up like this for me: ```auto Well, I always figured Vaarsuvius was pronounced like Vesuvius, jsut with an "ar" in place of the initial "e". And Xykon I always thought was "Zie (rhymes with die or fly)- Kon (rhymes with pawn or gone)" ``` Obviously it’s difficult to read posts that are filled with that kind of thing. I’ve tried changing the encoding on my browser to UTF-8, or ISO-8859-1, or ASCII, or ANSI, or … etc., and I’ve fiddled with a lot of other settings, but nothing has changed it so far. Could somebody please point out what I need to do, so I can get on with hanging my head in shame at my idiocy? It would be greatly appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-quotes-show-up-as-quot-in-some-places/408793/2 "2007-06-21T01:17:17Z")
I get the impression that in vBulletin (at least the version we use at the SDMB) HTML name codes don’t work but HTML number codes. For example, the quote mark is decimal 34. If I type in " it will end up like this: " If I type in " it will end up like this: " (for examples of name codes and number codes you can see here: [http://home.earthlink.net/~awinkelried/keyboard\_shortcuts.html](http://home.earthlink.net/~awinkelried/keyboard_shortcuts.html) ) ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-quotes-show-up-as-quot-in-some-places/408793/3 "2007-06-21T01:21:46Z")
So, to be more clear, if the **HTML source code** contains this: " then your browser will translate it to a quotation mark. If the **HTML source code** containssomething like this: " then your browser will translate it to " Is that clear as mud? ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-quotes-show-up-as-quot-in-some-places/408793/4 "2007-06-21T01:22:26Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] I get the impression that in vBulletin (at least the version we use at the SDMB) HTML name codes don’t work but HTML number codes. For example, the quote mark is decimal 34. If I type in " it will end up like this: " If I type in " it will end up like this: " (for examples of name codes and number codes you can see here: [http://home.earthlink.net/~awinkelried/keyboard\_shortcuts.html](http://home.earthlink.net/~awinkelried/keyboard_shortcuts.html) ) [/QUOTE] So let me see if I understand … it’s probably caused by the browser software (which people are using to post their messages to the board) rendering quotes as the HTML name code “”", and then vBulletin not being able to render those properly when it comes time to display them? Which means there’s nothing I can do to fix it? Funnily enough, the notification of your reply that I received by e-mail, which I read in Pine, showed up like this: ```auto Hello chorpler, Arnold Winkelried has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to entitled - Why do quotes show up as """ in some places? - in the General Questions forum of Straight Dope Message Board. ``` Heh heh … even Pine knows to show HTML name codes as the character they represent, so “”" shows up as “”". Strange that vBulletin doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-quotes-show-up-as-quot-in-some-places/408793/5 "2007-06-21T01:27:12Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] So, to be more clear, if the **HTML source code** contains this: " then your browser will translate it to a quotation mark. If the **HTML source code** containssomething like this: " then your browser will translate it to " Is that clear as mud? [/QUOTE] Wait, so it’s not vBulletin having a problem displaying named HTML codes instead of numbered ones, then, but rather a problem of the initial ampersand in the HTML code being converted to an HTML code itself? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-quotes-show-up-as-quot-in-some-places/408793/6 "2007-06-21T01:27:19Z")
chorpler, as my second post implies: if I type in " then vBulletin will be “smart” enough to change it to " when it stores the text of my post in the vBulletin database. The text of the post is retrieved as " which your browser correctly renders as " ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-quotes-show-up-as-quot-in-some-places/408793/7 "2007-06-21T01:28:25Z")
I think you’ve got it. Try looking at the source code of this page.