Re: "Missing character" glyph

From: Otto Stolz (Otto.Stolz@uni-konstanz.de)
Date: Tue Jul 30 2002 - 14:50:44 EDT


Martin Kochanski wrote:

> In writing a manual, I want to show examples of what a display looks like

> when a font doesn't have a particular character.

I suggest, you also show examples of what a display looks like when a
data-stream is not encoded properly,
e. g. <http://www.systems.uni-konstanz.de/EMAIL/FAQ.php#SMTP-71>,
when it is not tagged with the correct encoding,
e. g. <http://www.systems.uni-konstanz.de/EMAIL/FAQ.php#SMTP-72>,
or when it is distorted by intermediate processing unaware of the encoding
used, e. g. <http://www.systems.uni-konstanz.de/EMAIL/FAQ.php#SMTP-73>.

> What Unicode character would best represent the "missing character" symbol?

I would use an image (actual screen-shot).

If you really need to encode those "missing characters", U+25AF and U+2337
spring to mind. Or you could use a code-point that has no character assigned
to it (and is not likely to get one), e. g. U+03A2: most systems will use
their respective missing-character glyphs to display it.

Best wishes,
   Otto Stolz



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jul 30 2002 - 12:57:27 EDT