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Zvonimir Tosic - January 2, 2008 1:47 pm
Here are some related quotes (sorry about the fonts);

 

Sorry Gandiva dasi,

maybe this is out of context of the question, but it might help better deliver your answer.

That's why this is in the new thread, as a humble request (I apologise if this was discussed before). Hope you and other members won't mind this suggestion.

 

Tatva-viveka webpage content is currently encoded like this:

 



<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />

 

ISO 8859-1 cannot display any extra codepages, because it's limited to 256 characters only. It is recommended to be substituted with Unicode. So instead, if the source code of the page (a PHP file that generates HTML content) was changed to Unicode, like this (an example from Wiki):

 



<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />

 

it might help render text copied from online references which use Unicode and recommended Latin Extended codepages (encompassing characters needed for Sanskrit to Latin alphabet transliteration).

 

Why UTF? Wiki says: In June 2004, the ISO/IEC working group responsible for maintaining eight-bit coded character sets disbanded and ceased all maintenance of ISO 8859, including ISO 8859-1, in order to concentrate on the Universal Character Set and Unicode. In computing applications, encodings that provide full UCS support (such as UTF-8 and UTF-16) are finding increasing favor over encodings based on ISO 8859-1. They're simply more universal.

 

I believe many members of Tattva-viveka would like to support this little feature request?

 

Hope it is possible for our webmaster to do. It's a very simple surgery. Only extra thing that has to be done is to check if the font used to display content fully supports Unicode on all popular operating systems. I've just tested this on a homemade webpage using the UTF-8. I've copied some text from the Srimad Bhagavatam at Vedabase, and it worked perfectly. For Mac OS X, following fonts work: Times, Arial, Helvetica, Lucida Grande, Courier New, Palatino and Tahoma. If you want Devanagari as well as Latin transliteration in the same paragraph, or perhaps Devanagari only :Shocked:, then use Lucida Grande.

 

For Windows I have no relevant data, sorry :lol:

 

Ys, Z.

Syama Gopala Dasa - January 2, 2008 7:58 pm

I don't think most TVkies have a clue what you are talking about. haha

 

Gauravani maintains the board, perhaps you could send him a message. What you want is fairly easy but most likely time consuming to change all the code unless the board uses a simple template with header information.

Zvonimir Tosic - January 2, 2008 9:58 pm
I don't think most TVkies have a clue what you are talking about. haha

 

Gauravani maintains the board, perhaps you could send him a message. What you want is fairly easy but most likely time consuming to change all the code unless the board uses a simple template with header information.

 

Yes, it's quite simple.

All web boards / forums work the same way. There's a database and the engine (say PHP pages) that access messages stored in a database and display them in your web browser.

 

http://tattvaviveka.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1334&pid=13749&st=0entry13749

 

This example shows how index.php gets the message from the database, using the right coordinates of the specific message.

You have to make PHP page aware that the text is in UTF-8 from now on.

 


___ * * * ___



Working with Unicode will provide additional benefit too: it will enormously help in delivering of all future books, say SangaQ&A Books. If using Unicode to render Sanga Q&A properly, with all special transliteration characters, it's just a matter of cutting and pasting the Sanga Q&A letters into the modern page layout program, say InDesign, choosing the right typeface and finishing the book.


___ * * * ___



 

Hope this helps.

Gandiva Dasi - January 3, 2008 11:57 am
;):Cow: Thanks? I for one have no clue what all that entails.
Zvonimir Tosic - January 3, 2008 3:25 pm
;):Cow: Thanks? I for one have no clue what all that entails.

 

Thank you too.

To see what it entails, just observe following links.

First is simple ISO, second is UTF.

 

ISO example

UTF example

 

In both files same text from Vedabase is used. I'd like to help, and I like it better than engaging in debates. Hopefully someone will find this interesting and maybe we could have an upgraded TV sometime soon ... and inspiration for Sanga books maybe.

 

- Si vis amari, ama.

Z.

Bhrigu - January 3, 2008 4:51 pm

This would be great, Zvonimir.

Syama Gopala Dasa - January 3, 2008 8:05 pm

Just contact Gauravani, Zvonimir, and tell him you'd like to help.