RE: Strange advice re BOM and UTF-8

> From: Karl Dubost [mailto:karl@w3.org] 
> Sent: 13 December 2006 03:21


> the intent of the wiki page is to test BOM signature in files.

I'm not sure why you write that (nor what it means specifically).  


> > Given this thread, I have done that this morning.  Note that [1] I 
> > have separated out the tests for autodetection of utf-8 into a 
> > separate set.
> 
> Good. but the problem is that we change the test you change 
> the meaning of the results as well. ;)

I think the format of the results may need to be changed, but I think the
essential meaning of the tests doesn't really change.  

Btw, note that if you'd bounced the idea of creating the wiki page off me
before doing it, I'd have made these changes earlier - they have been on my
ttd list for some time. ;-)

> 
> > [2] there is now a series of 3 pages for investigating 
> display issues 
> > related to bom handling - a third test has been added to test PHP 
> > includes (which seem to cause problems for IE and Opera).
> 
> PHP? How it is related to the issue on a client.
> Whatever is happening before the client receives it is not 
> relevant for the issue. There are usually a lot of 
> pre-processing on a server.

It's relevant to the client because the signature (somehow) produces the
effect we were concerned about on the client if you produce your HTML via
PHP.  It shows that the use of the signature may still be an issue for
people in some circumstances.

I have no idea why that is the case, other than that user agent behaviour is
perhaps based on recognition of the file extension.


> As I'm not sure what you exactly meant, would you be kind to 
> update the wiki taking into consideration that we try to test 
> the BOM.  

I was suggesting that the wiki be reorganized along the lines of
http://www.w3.org/International/tests/results/results-utf8-signature.php#res
ults and that the stuff relating to utf-8 auto-detection be removed  (or, if
you also want to capture that, at least separated out).  I'd also recommend
btw that you separate out editors from user agents to more clearly reflect
the points arising from the tests.

RI

PS: I will now be off-line until tomorrow.


> That's cool to see progress on that and I see people have put 
> their own results as well.
> 
> 
> Many thanks!

Received on Wednesday, 13 December 2006 08:31:35 UTC