When exactly is it all right to actually type the character instead of inserting the HTML code for it? I have places on my site where I use ( and ) instead of the code, and it appears in a browser fine.
@Major_PayneJan 27.2008 — #Current web browsers will recognize either the numeric entity or the character entity. There are many character sets, but the most likely one to be recognized on the Web is ISO latin-1. Some older browsers may not recognize particular character entities so it's a good idea to test your page in different browsers.
The characters on a standard keyboard normally have no problems displaying. Entities which are considered character entities are pretty much recognized by all browsers. I would use the numeric entity for the more uncommon characters.
@rhsundergroundJan 28.2008 — #i try to use the ASCII code for any non-standard character (in the english language). for example, were i referencing beethoven's "Für Elise" in my code i would have "Für Elise."