html, unicode and character sets

[jb]

If an html file is created in 16-bit unicode format and an appropriate
character set is used (e.g. GB2312, a flavor of chinese), will it
display correctly?

Will it be necessary to use any character codes?

 

[Benjamin Niemann]

If an html file is created in 16-bit unicode format and an appropriate
character set is used (e.g. GB2312, a flavor of chinese), will it
display correctly?

When using 16-bit encoding, you must configure your webserver correctly, so
it sends the encoding in the Content-Type HTTP header (Content-Type:
text/html; coding=GB2312).

I don't know though, if GB2312 belongs to the widely supported encodings -
i.e. if there are browsers that do not support it.

Will it be necessary to use any character codes?

What do you mean by 'character codes'?

 

[jb]

When using 16-bit encoding, you must configure your webserver correctly, so
it sends the encoding in the Content-Type HTTP header (Content-Type:
text/html; coding=GB2312).

That makes sense. Will it work for local files?

I don't know though, if GB2312 belongs to the widely supported encodings -
i.e. if there are browsers that do not support it.


What do you mean by 'character codes'?

....codes like this: ö

I'm working on an html generator which isn't working properly for a
chinese user. Unicode support will be added if it solves the problem.

 

[Benjamin Niemann]

I have to correct myself. GB2312 is a variable-length encoding which is
ASCII compatible. This means that it could be sufficient in most cases to
declare the encoding as
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; coding=GB2312">. This
will only work, if the HTTP header does not contain the coding parameter.
It is still *strongly* recommended to declare the encoding in the HTTP
headers.

Will it work for local files?

With a META element with the coding parameter this should also work for
local files (which is the only reason I could think of to use <meta
http-equiv..> at all).

...codes like this: ö

These are called 'character entity references'. You'll have to use these
whenever you need a character which is not available in GB2312.

 

[Toby Inkster]

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; coding=GB2312">. This
will only work, if the HTTP header does not contain the coding parameter.

I think you mean "charset".

 

[Benjamin Niemann]

I think you mean "charset".

Oops. You're right.