[Bug 1833] Wrong ISO-8859-1 enconding behaviour on "Direct input"

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=1833





------- Additional Comments From jh@awake.dk  2005-09-22 08:03 -------
> Yes, it should. Regardless of what encoding the document you are trying to
validate is in, since the 
> form on the validator's site is in utf-8, when you copy and paste your source
into the form's text area, 
> then it "becomes" utf-8.
> 
> See also Comment #1.

So, basically, what you are saying is that because the form on the validator's
site is utf-8, then it should NOT be possibly to have your input validated in
another encoding? Again, I would like to point out that to the user, there
should be no difference between the three different validation methods.

What I suggest you do is this:
When using "direct input" in 'simple mode' the validator should try to read the
encoding from within the content (from the meta element). If there is no meta
elmenent specifying an encoding, the validator should use utf-8.

When using "direct input" in 'extended mode' it should be possible to specify
what encoding you want the validator to use.

This way, "direct input" would follow the methodology of the "file upload" and
"URL" validation.

> Direct input is different from the other methods because there is no "server"
sending the content along 
> with HTTP information, it's just a text string being sent with a form. It
means that the logic to process 
> this content is slightly different from the other input methods. However, your
assumption that it would 
> have any effect on usability is based on a misunderstanding.

Misunderstanding? If I try to validate content that validates with an iso-8859-1
encoding in "URL validation" or "file upload", but suddenlig fails when using
"direct input" [because the form uses utf-8] I would say it does indeed have an
impact on usability! I don't see how you can say this is based on a
misunderstanding.

To sum up, I think you should give the user the choice of specifying an encoding
on "direct input", the same way it works on the extended upload and URL
validation. Furthermore I think you should specify that content on "direct
input" in 'simple mode' defaults to utf-8.

Received on Thursday, 22 September 2005 08:03:38 UTC