David Starner wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 12, 2002 at 11:22:01AM +0100, Marco Cimarosti wrote:
> > At best, the localization could use a label such as
> "Unicode (UTF-8)" to
> > enforce the concept that UTF-8 is Unicode as well. But it
> could hardly use
> > "Unicode (UTF-16BE)" for the *default* UTF, because the
> user would ask
> > "Where is *plain* 'Unicode'?"
>
> Then possibly the user should be educated. This gets hairer
> if you think
> about crossplatform; UTF-16 is not suitable for native use on Unix
> systems (the whole reason UTF-8 was created), so the user should be
> encouraged to use UTF-8 for the default Unicode encoding on those
> platforms.
OK, UTF-8 is my favorite default UTF too. However, whatever the default is,
it is easier to just call it "Unicode", and call the other options "Unicode
(something else)".
That puts one less acronym in front of the "naive" user. The expert user is
supposed to know what the default UTF is on her platform.
> > A ideal interface should probably automatically and
> silently select Unicode
> > (and its default UTF) whenever one or more of the
> characters in a document
> > are not representable in the local encoding.
>
> NOOOOO! Don't ever save in an encoding that isn't the local encoding
> without user interaction.
OK, I withdraw the word "silently"! However, even a simple prompt like "One
ore more characters cannot be saved in the current locale. Do you want to
save in Unicode?" *is* interaction, and it tells the user everything she
needs to know to decide.
_ Marco
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