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Is there a way to do a quote:

like so

inline similar to code block?

While attempting, > This doesn't work > or > this <

I want to bring attention to my inline quote, and I don't feel quotations marks are enough.

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  • 5
    An inline quote generally uses..."quotation marks".
    – ale
    Commented Oct 5, 2012 at 12:58
  • You could even use quotation marks within a "code block".
    – Lix
    Commented Oct 5, 2012 at 13:01
  • 2
    @hims056 Erm, you're wrong.
    – Grant Thomas
    Commented Oct 5, 2012 at 13:08
  • 3
    @hims056 No. Code blocks are for inline code. They have semantic and visual meaning. Do not use them for inline quotations.
    – user229044
    Commented Oct 5, 2012 at 13:18
  • There's the <q> tag <developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/q>, though it doesn't actually work in StackExchange…
    – Calion
    Commented Feb 7, 2023 at 22:22

1 Answer 1

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Yes, quotation marks. That's what they do.

If you want to quote something so short that it should be inline you probably just want to wrap it in quotation marks. Otherwise, if you're actually quoting something substantial, it should be a block-level element.

Wikipedia tells us that "in English writing, quotation marks ... are punctuation marks surrounding a quotation, direct speech, or a literal title or name", which sounds very much like what you're looking for.

As far as something more visually distinct, frankly, we need less bolding/italicizing/inline styles. There is absolutely no reason to mark some parts of your post more important than others. You should be stripping out the unimportant parts until only the important parts remain. Whatever quote you're inserting shouldn't require any special visual styles to stand out; if your question is written properly and of a reasonable length, people will read the quote in the course of reading your question.

If you're worried about your quote getting lost, you're filling your question with too much fluff. You should pare it down until there is literally nothing left for you to remove without changing the meaning of the question.

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    IMO, we aren't really formatting with english rules. Nothing in english suggests that a quote block have a gray background. I wanted to bring attention to the quote because it's a SO rule, but I can't do that without a code block, which leaves the fixed-width font in place. This isn't a really big concern obviously, but it would be nice to have a way to hightlight inline quotes without using fixed-width font.
    – Lee Louviere
    Commented Oct 5, 2012 at 13:07
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    @Xaade In the original post, Xaade said "I want to bring attention to my inline quote, and I don't feel quotations marks are enough.". This makes a quote stand out more obviously. Is that sufficient for you? (Can be achieved using *"..."* or _"..."_)
    – Rob W
    Commented Oct 5, 2012 at 13:12
  • I supposed counter-suggestion is going to flood this one out. @RobW I guess that will do.
    – Lee Louviere
    Commented Oct 5, 2012 at 13:14
  • See edits. Absolutely disagree with adding additional magic styles for inline quotes. Note @RobW that he didn't say that in the original post. He edited it in, in response to my answer.
    – user229044
    Commented Oct 5, 2012 at 13:16

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