Isn't this solution only viable for some web servers?
Michael Kaplan's article in MSDN (July 2000) says that older
versions of Microsoft IIS will not support UTF-8 and/or
UTF-16.
Thanks,
Paul
Paul Deuter
paul.deuter@plumtree.com
-----Original Message-----
From: addison@inter-locale.com [mailto:addison@inter-locale.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 8:45 AM
To: Unicode List
Cc: Unicode List
Subject: Re: do all browsers support UTF-8 encoding???
Hi Sandeep,
I am horrified that you would even CONSIDER separate middle tiers or
separate web servers a "solution".
I guess this concept is hard to understand. What I said was:
Build your pages as UTF-8 or UTF-16 and convert them in one pass to a
legacy code set. Internally your servers are working entirely in Unicode,
and for modern browsers you can deliver the UTF-8 page directly. For older
browsers, convert the page and send it.
Now this sounds complex, but in JSP (you were using JSP, right?) it's as
easy as adding this line to the top of your localized JSP file:
<%@ page contentType="text/html; charset=Big5" %>
That is ALL you have to do to deliver the page as Big5. Java uses UTF-16
internally, so you can pass in Unicode data (in the form of Strings) and
talk to middle tier systems in Unicode (in the form of Strings).
Now implementing a flexible approach is harder. I advocate using XSL to
achieve this result. You'll have tags in your XSL stylesheet that look
something like this:
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when userAgentOkay==1>
<xsl:directive.page contentType='text/html; charset=utf-8'/>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
<xsl:directive.page contentType=legacyCharset />
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
So, let's review:
1. Do NOT use legacy charsets internal to your servers.
2. Generate your pages as Unicode (UTF-16 or UTF-8).
3. Convert the assembled page to a legacy charset if-and-only-if the
userAgent is an older browser.
Thanks,
Addison
===========================================================
Addison P. Phillips Principal Consultant
Inter-Locale LLC http://www.inter-locale.com
Los Gatos, CA, USA mailto:addison@inter-locale.com
+1 408.210.3569 (mobile) +1 408.904.4762 (fax)
===========================================================
Globalization Engineering & Consulting Services
On Thu, 5 Oct 2000, Sandeep Krishna wrote:
> hi...
>
> well.. as per ur suggestion.. i shouldnt send in UTF-8 coded text...
> and instead should send in text in local scripts (Big5, GB..., Shift-JIS
> etc.. )
>
> but doesnt that implicitly imply that i need to have a separate middle
tier
> support for each locale...
> that is i dedicate separate Web Servers specfically meant for a particular
> locale....(that is it only writes and reads to the DB server on a
> particualar encoding ..say. Big5)
>
> but my kindof set up doesnt permit me the liberty of separate Web Servers
> for separate locales.....(Business Rules.)
>
> so i dont think that solution hold valid for my case....
> any elaborations/clarifications.....
>
> regards,
>
> Sandeep
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <addison@inter-locale.com>
> To: Unicode List <unicode@unicode.org>
> Cc: Unicode List <unicode@unicode.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2000 10:22 PM
> Subject: Re: do all browsers support UTF-8 encoding???
>
>
> Hi Sandeep,
>
> Maybe this wasn't clear, but...
>
> IE 2,3,4.x and Netscape 2, 3, and 4.x will not display Chinese characters
> using the UTF-8 encoding as installed. They set the font for the UTF-8
> encoding to "Times New Roman" and therefore display black squares (the
> "empty glyph") for all Chinese characters.
>
> A lot of us think that you should not send UTF-8 to the browser if you are
> concerned about having large numbers of people with older browser versions
> (and cannot ensure that they all set the font to something more
> approprite, i.e. in a controlled environment such as an intranet). This
> appears to be your case.
>
> Short story:
>
> Work in Unicode (your choice, UTF-8 or UTF-16) at the server.
> Send UTF-8 to "modern" browsers (IE 5.x, NN 6.x).
> Send legacy encodings (such as Big5) to older browsers.
> Send UTF-8 to browsers serving languages that are compatible with UTF-8
> (Latin script languages in Western and Central Europe mostly).
>
> Regards,
>
> Addison
>
> ===========================================================
> Addison P. Phillips Principal Consultant
> Inter-Locale LLC http://www.inter-locale.com
> Los Gatos, CA, USA mailto:addison@inter-locale.com
>
> +1 408.210.3569 (mobile) +1 408.904.4762 (fax)
> ===========================================================
> Globalization Engineering & Consulting Services
>
> On Wed, 4 Oct 2000, Sandeep Krishna wrote:
>
> > 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 : sandeepkrishna@noida.hcltech.com
> >
> >
> > ~Don't frown, because you never know who's
falling
> in love with your smile!~
> >
>
>
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