Apple May Break Automatic Em Dash
On iOS or Android, to enter an em dash, you need to hold down the hyphen key until the dash options appear. The latest iOS 11 beta changes this by automatically correcting the three hyphens to the em dash. The two hyphens are automatically replaced with an en dash used for number ranges, for example “10–20 people take care of this.”
This is almost similar to the standard behavior on desktop computers, where the two hyphens are automatically replaced with an em dash. But if Apple implements the “one-two-three” system in iOS, it could implement it on the Mac as well. Tech reporter Glenn Fleischman talked about why this is bad in 1,100 words .
As with switching the Mac to “natural scrolling,” the real problem with the hyphen switch is that it violates an underlying industry standard. But that has never stopped Apple. So get ready – maybe – to add “re-learn the hyphenated shortcut” to the many joys of life in Apple’s unique ecosystem.