[SOLVED] Why might a copyright-symbol show up as a black diamond in one site but not its twin?

sundialsvcs · 01-03-2017, 03:34 PM

I currently have two web servers that are displaying the same site. (The second one is the soon-to-be successor of the first.)

The character-set of site is Latin-1 as shown by:

Code:

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

... which directive appears in both sites.

However, a "copyright" symbol appears as a black-diamond in one site but not the other, in the same browser. In one, the character appears normally. In the other, black diamond.

curl of the page from both servers and diff and hexdump of the two files shows that the byte is the same.

The font is available in both cases and has been retrieved and stored by the browser in both cases. It is the same font.

hydrurga · 01-03-2017, 03:45 PM

I think the problem may be at web server level. Check to see what you have the server encoding set to (e.g. through its .htaccess files) and the content of the HTTP headers it returns.

sundialsvcs · 01-03-2017, 05:08 PM

Bingo. Thank you.

One server sends a header: "Content-Type: 'Text/HTML'" while the other adds "Charset=UTF-8."

Now, what directive would that be ...?

I suppose that this header, if present, overrides any <meta> tag in a particular page of content?

sundialsvcs · 01-03-2017, 06:19 PM

Ooh... I surely hope that folks won't now overlook this thread, now that I marked it as [SOLVED] ...

... because right now I really don't quite understand just where this HTML Header is coming from. The server is a "stock Ubuntu-LTS," and the charset.conf configuration is not enabled.

So ... where-and-why is this server "proclaiming to all to whom these presents may come" that the content is "UTF-8?"

I don't really think that it is coming from this bit of php.ini:

Code:

; PHP's default character set is set to UTF-8.
; http://php.net/default-charset
default_charset = "UTF-8"

... but I really do need to know ...

- - -
Edit: Based on the docs referenced in the file-snippet: "quite clearly, it is not ..."

So, where is it? Is it some sort of recent default? (Notice: the web-site is jumping from Apache 2.2 to 2.4.)

NevemTeve · 01-03-2017, 09:06 PM

On directory level, it is option AddDefaultCharset in file .htaccess.

hydrurga · 01-04-2017, 01:41 AM

Yes, HTTP headers override meta tags.

As NevemTeve mentioned, check your .htaccess files for AddDefaultCharset (also AddCharset and AddType). Also, check httpd.conf. If you can't find anything, then set things yourself to serve iso-8859-1.

Given that you haven't yet worked out why the difference occurs, maybe you should remark the thread as "unsolved" in the meantime?

Some info: https://www.w3.org/International/art...-charset/index

sundialsvcs · 01-04-2017, 09:29 AM

I haven't found the directive yet. Is there a default?

sundialsvcs · 01-04-2017, 09:56 AM

Sometimes, I wish I could read ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by PHP.INI:

; By default, PHP will output a character encoding using
; the Content-type: header. To disable sending of the charset, simply
; set it to be empty.
;
; PHP's built-in default is text/html
; http://php.net/default-mimetype
default_mimetype = "text/html"

; PHP's default character set is set to UTF-8.
; http://php.net/default-charset
default_charset = "UTF-8"

NevemTeve · 01-04-2017, 12:03 PM

Well, php.ini affects .php files, not .html, .txt, .js etc files...
Are we talking about a .php file?