Markdown syntax
Among the text filter plugins I installed recently, my favorite is called "Markdown with Smartypants." Markdown is an HTML shorthand that is much more readable than pure HTML markup. Smartypants is a filter that turns straight quotation marks (inch marks) into real quotation marks, double-hyphens into em-dashes, and so on.
To take full advantage of this filter, it helps to know the Markdown syntax.
Use of the Smartypants option helps prevent the ugly Microsoft-entity decoding errors that mar pages that quote from your blog, including our local compendium, Telegraph.