Typesetting Tip #8: The Middle Dot & Bullets
A brief description and usage rules for two typographic elements, the middle dot and the bullet.
- (·) the middle dot (·)
- (•) the bullet (•)
Basic Rules
The middle dot (·) or interpunct was used in ancient latin script before the usage of the space to represent word boundaries. The middle dot is also used in foreign languages (especially asian scripts) where word spacing is not used. While the character is not often used in English, it can be a useful typographic element. Try it as a divider in horizontal navigation instead of the vertical bar (|).
Bullets are used to introduce elements in a list. In most (if not all) cases, lists should follow HTML markup rules for unordered lists (<ul></ul>). The appearance of bullets should be stylized using CSS.