[Bug 6259] handling of character encoding in Direct Input can be confusing

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=6259


Olivier Thereaux <ot@w3.org> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Summary|Different result when       |handling of character
                   |valdating by direct input or|encoding in Direct Input can
                   |by url                      |be confusing
         Resolution|INVALID                     |
          Component|Website                     |check
             Status|RESOLVED                    |REOPENED




--- Comment #4 from Olivier Thereaux <ot@w3.org>  2008-12-02 20:02:12 ---
(In reply to comment #2)
> in validation by input form,  there could be warning when no <meta http-equiv
> /> / XML Declaration is present: "Warning: the content encoding is not declared
> in the document." (with a bit more of explanation as to why this might be
> problem).

Right. We can do that ** if (and only if) we actually want to recommend
declaring encoding at the document level **

The XML declaration is a liability in text/html, at least as long as IE6 has
such a big market share (anything before the doctype means quirks mode).

charset in <meta> doesn't seem to be a problem, other than the fact that it is
the most misused/mistyped html construct ever (cue link to hixie's study)

having a <meta> can be a problem with transcoding servers, also seems to be
widespread to have HTTP and <meta> disagree, see e.g.
http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/mama-document-encodings/#agree

OTOH, I do see “For these reasons you should always ensure that encoding
information is also declared inside the document.” in
http://www.w3.org/International/tutorials/tutorial-char-enc/#Slide0250 but the
recommendation is confusing, even for me.

I guess an "info" about it would be in order, then. The algorithm may not be
too trivial to add to the validator, but that's feasible.  

> Likewise, when encoding is declared, there could be a warning (or a "notice" if
> such a thing exists?) saying that the document's correct encoding was not
> verified.

Good.

I'm reopening the bug, until we address the usability issue.


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Received on Tuesday, 2 December 2008 20:02:21 UTC