At 11:16 AM +0000 5/5/01, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>*** JUUICHIKETAJIN ***
[hotheaded comments snipped]
> A lot of times on Google, the
>description for the page found says something like
>"this page contains characters that can't be displayed
>in the current character set..." , which is kind of dumb
>because all they would have to do at Google is make the
>character set Unicode!
You are assuming that the average user would have a useful Unicode
font setting. The average user doesn't have a useful Unicode font
installed. We have not arrived at the point where browsers can count
on the presence of Arial Unicode MS or Code 2000. Certainly browser
makers are not about to add a font larger than the browser to their
downloads. Under the circumstances, Google is being polite by sending
an apology rather than trash.
You do raise some interesting questions.
Can a Web server determine what scripts and fonts a user has
installed before sending a page? [my guess: no]
Would you like to have to register the character sets you have
installed at every multilingual site you use? [my guess: no]
--
Edward Cherlin
Generalist
"A knot!" exclaimed Alice. "Oh, do let me help to undo it."
Alice in Wonderland
