RE: do all browsers support UTF-8 encoding???

[Carl W. Brown]

Sandeep,   Remember that I cautioned you about surprises.  If you get the answer to this question it may not solve your problem. For example I can install Netscape 4.x which does support UTF-8 and a system with a Korean Font.  I can then send Korean text to the browser and it will not detect that it is Korean Unicode text and know that it must select a Korean font.  Without a Korean font I will get garbage.   Try it.   The real art of i18n consulting is:   1) Be able to see what the questions are. 2) You can not hope to know everything but you should know your limitations. 3) Know where to get help. 4) Years of experience in the field working a numerous projects of all types. 5) Get experience in a wide variety of languages and locales all over the world. 6) Don't make any design decisions.  If the client does not feel comfortable that you have not passed on enough information.   If you plan to use UTF-8 with browsers there are a lot of issues involved.  Many companies are waiting for the technology to mature first.  But if you do then use locale specific style sheets.  Then when some US designer put bold text on the page the Taiwanese user won't have unreadable pages because his text is smeared.  With a separate Chinese style sheets you not only control fonts but issues like bolding.  If the browsers do not support style sheets you are not likely to have much success with UTF-8 anyway.   Font design issues merit as much attention as Unicode issues.  There are a lot of concerns.    Carl  -----Original Message----- From: Sandeep Krishna [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2000 7:30 AM To: Unicode List Subject: do all browsers support UTF-8 encoding??? hi guys!!   can someone tell me whether all browsers (atleast IE 2,3.0 and Netscape...) support encoding/deocding on UTF-8....   and also, can there be an instance of browser (say a primitave version of a Chinese Netscape) that supports Big 5 encoding but not UTF-8. THis info. is crucial as i expect all users (of the site) to be capable of using only UTF-8 encoding....... so if there is a user whose browser doesnt support UTF-8 or it supports Big 5 but not UTF-8 then this is trouble..........   anyone with some idea on this issue.......   regards,   Sandeep   ***********************************************************************************************         SANDEEP KRISHNA Member Technical Staff (Priceline.com) H.C.L. Technologies Limited A-1 C&D, Sector -16, NOIDA, UP, India. Ph:  91-11-91-4516321 (extn. 1062) Fax: 91-11-91-4510713, 4510226 E-Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]                           ~Don't frown, because you never know who's falling in love with your smile!~