I did a search first and found several helpful comments from Héctor but could not find an answer for this.

I'm setting the text for a friend's family history. He is a scientist and very well-read, but I am not sure if his typographic style is correct. He grew up in Chile, but his family is from Asturias in northern Spain, so the book is intended for family members in both Chile and Spain. At the moment, he is using commas and hyphens in places where I would use en-dashes and thin spaces. For example:

. . . prerrománicos, -conocidos también como en arte de la monarquía asturiana- , como son las Iglesias . . .

He is setting off the phrase at the front end by starting with a comma (closed up right next to the end of the word), then a word space, then a hyphen immediately preceding the first word of the phrase. At the end of the phrase he follows the last word immediately with a hyphen, then a word space, then a comma, then a word space, and then the first word of the next clause.

Would this be correct usage for Chile and Spain? Or can someone suggest a different approach? It makes me nervous to see a comma all by itself, with a space on either side.

Also, to confirm something that I read about Mexican usage in an earlier post from Héctor, when I am setting ranges of dates I should use a hyphen and not an en-dash? As in . . . los siglos XVI-XVIII . . . ? Is this correct for Chile and Spain?

Many thanks,

Bruce