The vertical bar | has quietly taken over the web. Back in the late ’90s, designers liked to use :: for a similar effect, but since around 2017 the bar has become the go-to symbol.
You see it everywhere now—titles, lists, menus, and all kinds of user interface elements. It does two things at once: it acts as a divider, while also hinting at an “and/or” connection between the words or ideas it splits.
Writers and designers usually reached for dashes in the past. Today, almost everyone prefers the vertical bar. It feels simple, maybe even a little primitive, but also smart—it’s fast, clean, and keeps related subjects tied together without much effort.
So why has this tiny glyph become so popular online? Maybe it’s the perfect mix of minimalism and functionality that fits the way we read and design for the web today.
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