Re: Translation issue: To use or not use character entities

One of the problems with using characters like � is that the ASCII code 0233
for � may not be the same in a different font set. If a browser defaults to
a different set, it may look really interesting. I have a friend who writes
a newspaper article on his Mac and sends it out to a mailing list... all his
" characters come out as S on my machine. Makes it very interesting to read.
I would definitely recommend using escape codes for special characters.
Also, some web servers don't support them (apache doesn't like my � very
much at all) in my experience.

----- Original Message -----
From: Chuck Evans
To: 'HWG Techniques'
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2000 12:52 PM
Subject: Translation issue: To use or not use character entities


Our site is now translated into French (well, most of it). Our current batch
of translators were not consistent in their use of character entities (such
as é or é versus �). My Homesite Help states that
"...differences in the characters supported by localised keyboards mostly
don't allow for such special characters to be directly typed into a HTML
document. This is why HTML supports two mechanisms for the insertion of
these special characters."

I'd like to hear opinions and experience of other HWG members (especially
those with sites in different languages, especially French) on their use or
not of these characters. Of course, if I could just use the characters
themselves (eg, �) the code would look a lot neater. But I want to be
completely consistent and accessible at the same time.

Thanks.

---------------------------------------------------------
Chuck Evans
Web Marketing Manager
Captura Software, Inc.
(425) 424-1155
chucke(at)captura.com
www.captura.com

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