The problem is that other MediaWiki installations do not provide this change. Consequently Lingala people are unlikely to support their language in Betawiki and, they are unlikely to upload their images to Commons.
In a discussion on Betawiki, browsers have been tested for this problem.
- Dell WinXP Explorer: squares instead of open e/o (with or with no accents).
- Dell WinXP Firefox 2.0.0.14: open o/e well; accents well.
- Mac 10.2.8 Safari 1.0.3: open o/e well; accents not.
- Mac 10.2.8 Firefox 2.0.9: open o/e well; accents not.
- Mac 10.2.8 Explorer 5.2: open o/e as "?"; accents not.
- Mac 10.4.11 Safari 3.1.1: open o/e well; accents not.
- Mac 10.4.11 Firefox 2.0.0: open o/e well; accents not.
Thanks,
GerardM
**Update**
It is not only browser related, the ɔ́ shows properly while I am editing this blog entry, but it does not in final form..
8 comments:
My blog entry DOES show up properly in the Google Reader.
Thanks,
GerardM
That is interesting that it reads properly in my blog reader, too. I had to go to your actual blog to see what you were saying about it not showing properly. Interesting.
Adam
I bet the issue is the specific font being used. There is discussion of this very issue, with further links in a recent language log post: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=915
Really strange. The blog posting looks fine on en.planet.wikimedia.org, and not OK on http://ultimategerardm.blogspot.com/2008/12/supporting-lingala-in-mediawiki.html.
IT still has a long way to go when it comes to supporting languages...
Siebrand
Your stylesheet requires a font which is not Unicode-compatible (Verdana in this case). Modern browsers (as in: not IE) are clever enough to disregard font settings when a certain character cannot be displayed in that font, but ususally not clever enough to the same when a character-accent combination cannot be displayed. (By the way, it doesn't work in FF 3.0.4/XP either.) Try setting the font to Arial Unicode MS, and it will look perfect. Of course, Arial Unicode MS is Windows-only, and even there not installed by default (nor is any other font with decent Unicode support), and somewhat esoteric to get working. (It is hidden between the Windows Office nonstandard install options, under some nondescript name I cannot remember... you can look it up in http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/, which is one of the best Unicode info pages (the other being fileformat.info).)
In short, Unicode support is a pain. The upcoming server side font proposals might make thigs easier (though Unicode font files are large, and might take long to download).
I entered a bug in bugzilla.
Thanks,
GerardM
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