On Mon, 22 May 2000, Randy Edwards wrote:
> Viewing this on a Windows machine using Netscape the site came up just
> fine. I noticed in the HTML source's header that the
> charset=windows-1257. I'm assuming that's the problem why I can't see the
> page under Netscape.
Yes.
Short answer: The page is broken and should be fixed.
What you've got is a classic case of Microsoft trying to take over the
world. Rather then do something radical, like adhere to standards, Microsoft
has invented their own character sets for various things, which are
incompatible with everyone else (and often each other).
The document returned by the server (which is running a version of Apache
for *Novell NetWare*, of all things) specifies in its HTML header that it
should use a non-standard, Microsoft-only character set. Netscape adheres to
(that part) of that HTML standard, and switches character sets to
"windows-1257". However, it doesn't know what to *do* with "windows-1257"
characters, so it displays in all question marks.
> My questions are: can someone smack me with a clue-bat and point me to some
> info on charsets in general?
Take a look at the HTML 4.0 specification [1]. As standards documents go,
it isn't too bad, and it gives you some information on character sets in the
context of HTML, which is exactly what this is.
[1] = http://www.www.org/TR/html401/
> Also, can someone explain to me exactly what's going on with Netscape and
> possibly how I can fix this so I can read the page (I've now got a
> definite desire to listen to Latvian radio!:-).
Contact the site's webmaster and tell him to fix his page to use a standard
character set. A clue-bat may be in order there, as well.
--
Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Net Technologies, Inc. <http://www.ntisys.com>
Voice: (800)905-3049 x18 Fax: (978)499-7839
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