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Posted by Jukka K. Korpela on 11/23/58 11:44
Simon wrote:
> I am not certain what else to say really, if I add any doctype the width of
> the document changes, (with horizontal scrollbar).
Really _any_ doctype? Anyway, adding a doctype that throws some browsers
into non-quirks (or "standard") mode may surely change something in the
layout.
> If I add any charset the same happens.
That sounds rather odd. _Any_ charset? Anyway, there's the _content_
problem that some of the content is apparently distorted, since it's
data in some strange and unspecified encoding. This should have higher
priority in the repair list.
> So, at best i could use "Windows-1256" and that might work. I would have to
> ask the user to try as it is their template.
What exactly are you working with? Trying to fix the page, or to help
someone view it despite its being broken? In the latter case, you need
to know the language used on the page and try different encodings and
see if some of them looks right. In the former case, the information
producer should be requested to specify the encoding or to convert the
data to &#number; format.
> We, http://www.journalhome.com as the host,
If you are the host, then it is your responsibility to inform authors
about the way(s) to make your server send the correct Content-Type
information, with a charset parameter as specified by the author. As the
second best approach, send no charset information (as now) and allow
authors to use .htaccess or similar technique.
It is _not_ your responsibility as a service provided to find out the
encoding of a document or even to help authors to decide on the encoding
they'll use - assuming, of course, that you have not promised such a
service. It might be a good idea to offer some general guidance, as
courtesy, but surely you need know about such matters well before being
able to help others.
> I am just suprised that it displays the code on some machine, (by the looks
> of it yours and mine), and it does not work on other machines.
Which "it" displays which "code" in which sense?
> I am guessing that the user browser understands the &#; but the machine does
> not have the fonts to actually display them.
That's quite possible, but how does that relate to the other problems
you have mentioned? It's a user-side problem, and authors may wish to
consider them at a general level when making their own decisions.
> A bit strange that both browsers seem to display ok without a DOCTYPE, what
> do they use?
Browsers don't use DOCTYPEs for anything but misguided guesses on
whether they should display the page in an intentionally broken manner
(i.e., DOCTYPE sniffing).
As a service provider, you don't need to worry about DOCTYPEs (except of
course on your own pages). They are to be provided by authors. You just
need to take care so that your server software does not add any extra
stuff at the start of the document, as some "free" providers do, thereby
messing up DOCTYPE detection. It seems that this is not a problem in
your case.
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