# forum encoding change, possible problems



## mkellogg

Hi everybody,

I just changed the encoding of the forums from a western encoding to Unicode UTF-8.  This will be best for the forums going forward, with non-English alphabet characters being properly encoded instead of the forums using a number to represent characters in languages that use accents plus Greek, Russian, Chinese, etc.

You might notice or have noticed some problems the interface.  I've fixed a few problems. Please report any other problems that you see.

Mike


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## Nicomon

Hi Mike,

I actually encountered problems, such as "missing features", earlier today... but everything now seems to be back to normal.  

Thanks for quickly fixing the issue.


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## enoo

The only (tiny!) problem I see is in the "Join date/Date d'inscription" on the French interface.
The months with accented letters have a "?" instead of the accented letter.
example: ao�t instead of août, f�vrier instead of février, etc.


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## mkellogg

OK, I am working on two problems:
 - Rayines and 24 others can't get into their private messages or  control panel.  I should have a solution within a few hours.
 - French interface characters - ao�t instead of août

Mike


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## Loob

I seem to have lost the strikethough button on the 'Reply to Thread' screen.  But that could be just me!


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## swift

Hello Mike,

I had some troubles yesterday. I wasn't able to post unless I tried two or three times to submit my replies... And 'delete' function wasn't working properly either.

I haven't encountered problems to read, send and receive PM's neither yesterday nor today.

Best regards,


J.


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## mkellogg

Hi swift,
Did you get an error message when trying to post?  And what do you mean by the 'delete' function?


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## swift

1. No, there was no message. I was redirected to a blank page.
2. Sorry, I didn't express myself properly.  I wasn't able to delete my posts because the "delete" *button* wasn't working.


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## Punky Zoé

Hi

Am I wrong, if I say that there was a stroke feature in the reply box and in the PM box, before changes? 
There was also an accented characters feature, isn't it?


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## mkellogg

Strange. After Loob reported the missing "strike-though" button, I saw it and tested it.  Now it has disappeared for me as well.
EDIT: It shows if you click "Go advanced" below the Quick Reply box, but not otherwise.

My updated list:
 - French interface characters - ao�t instead of août
- Rayines and 24 others can't get into their private messages or   control panel.  I should have a solution within a few hours.
 - missing strike-through button at times


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## Punky Zoé

The accented characters are back!


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## jann

mkellogg said:


> Strange. After Loob reported the missing "strike-though" button, I saw it and tested it.  Now it has disappeared for me as well.
> EDIT: It shows if you click "Go advanced" below the Quick Reply box, but not otherwise.


And it doesn't show when you click "edit" to correct something in a submitted post (not even when you're in "advanced" mode).  But correcting or clarifying something is one of the situations where people often need the strike-out feature!


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## Loob

Thanks, Mike, my strikethrough's back now.  I'm happy ecstatic


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## Loob

But .... I now seem to have lost the ability to reduce the font size to 1. I can get 2, I can get 3. But I can't get 1, whether I use the toolbar or the hand-cranked method _[size =1]..._

Is anyone else experiencing the same thing?


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## swift

No, I'm not.  And I'm using the hand-cranked method, Mrs. Loob.


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## cuchuflete

Loob said:


> But .... I now seem to have lost the ability to reduce the font size to 1. I can get 2, I can get 3. But I can't get 1, whether I use the toolbar or the hand-cranked method _[size =1]..._
> 
> Is anyone else experiencing the same thing?



Let's see if Madama Loob is special:

Size of this line is 3.

Size of this line is 2.

Size of this line is 1.


This is the unparsed (no vB codes applied) version of the above:

[SIZE=3]Size of this line is 3.[/size]

[SIZE=2]Size of this line is 2.[/size]

[SIZE=1]Size of this line is 1.[/SIZE]


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## Loob

Ignore me - I now realise the problem was the settings on my own computer.

I'm very sorry


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## cuchuflete

Loob said:


> Ignore me - I now realise the problem was the settings on my own computer.
> 
> I'm very sorry


 Ignore you?  Never!  No need to be sorrY either.


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## TimLA

Two days ago I found a thread with two paragraphs.

The upper paragraph was all in Greek characters, and the lower paragraph was in English.

I reported it jokingly as "We need a Greek/Italian/English forum", but reading this thread raised the possibility that it was an encoding error.
(I'm sure the mods were confused)

When I go back to the thread and click on it, the upper paragraph is still in Greek characters, but when I'm in the forum pages and "hover" it is in standard characters - Italian.

Is this an encoding problem? What can I do about it?
It only has happened with this one thread
(I won't post the thread because of not wishing to single anyone out).


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## Paulfromitaly

TimLA said:


> Two days ago I found a thread with two paragraphs.
> 
> The upper paragraph was all in Greek characters, and the lower paragraph was in English.
> 
> I reported it jokingly as "We need a Greek/Italian/English forum", but reading this thread raised the possibility that it was an encoding error.
> (I'm sure the mods were confused)
> 
> When I go back to the thread and click on it, the upper paragraph is still in Greek characters, but when I'm in the forum pages and "hover" it is in standard characters - Italian.
> 
> Is this an encoding problem? What can I do about it?
> It only has happened with this one thread
> (I won't post the thread because of not wishing to single anyone out).



I thought you meant the text was written in such poor English that it looked like Greek 
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1771765
I can't see any Greek fonts in that thread..


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## TimLA

Questa è la frase per dare 

I just copied and pasted the first few characters above, and I see them as Greek.

If I go up to that line and start typing after it, I type in Greek characters.

I can go back to regular characters just by changing the font.

I've changed the "encoding" to every possibility with no change in the font.
So I wonder if there is something embeded in the particular font that forces my computer to see the language of Aristotle.


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## Paulfromitaly

TimLA said:


> Questa è la frase per dare
> 
> I just copied and pasted the first few characters above, and I see them as Greek.
> 
> If I go up to that line and start typing after it, I type in Greek characters.
> 
> I can go back to regular characters just by changing the font.
> 
> I've changed the "encoding" to every possibility with no change in the font.
> So I wonder if there is something embeded in the particular font that forces my computer to see the language of Aristotle.


Sorry Tim, but I still can't see any Greek


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## TimLA

Paulfromitaly said:


> Sorry Tim, but I still can't see any Greek


 
It's funny, I see the Greek characters in your post.
It has to be the choice of language on my computers (I've checked 4 of them).
I'll play some more...


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## mkellogg

Tim, that is bizarre.  You might want to test a different web browser.


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## Cagey

Tim, 

When I view 'Page source' the computer tells me that the font for those letters is "Symbol".

<font face="Symbol">Questa è la frase per dare </font><br />.  

You seem to have switched fonts somewhere somehow. 

Your computer is reading the letters in that font.  My computer isn't reading them as symbols, but Latin letters.  (I hope I have set it up so that you see the same.)


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## mkellogg

Cagey, I'm impressed.  I never knew you had such techincal skills!

Tim, I bet she is right, and anybody who has a font called "Symbols" on their computer (Mac users?) will see symbols instead of the default font.


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## TimLA

That confirms it.
If you go to the original thread and do a "view" "source" the font is a "symbols" font.

Problem solved.
I knew I wasn't crazy...at least in that regard...


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