Author Topic: Punctuation wrongly displayed  (Read 618 times)

Alan W

  • Administrator
  • Eulexic
  • *****
  • Posts: 4961
  • Melbourne, Australia
    • View Profile
    • Email
Punctuation wrongly displayed
« on: January 17, 2023, 11:57:26 AM »
Recently people have been having problems with the way some punctuation characters are being displayed on the forum.

It seems that if you copy something from Microsoft Word that includes certain characters, such as ?smart quotes?, it can come out looking weird.

Contrary to suspicions, I don't think this is caused by a recent update to the software underlying the forum, because there has been no recent update. It's a few months since the last upgrade I applied to the SMF (Simple Machines Forum) package. What might have changed is still a mystery to me.

However, the problem may be able to be solved by converting the forum database to the UTF8 character code. I'll try that out over the next couple of days.
« Last Edit: January 17, 2023, 12:04:16 PM by Alan W »
Alan Walker
Creator of Lexigame websites

lilys field

  • Linguissimo
  • *****
  • Posts: 207
    • View Profile
Re: Punctuation wrongly displayed
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2023, 12:33:53 PM »
To Alan & associated polymaths:

Thank you for keeping the joint running w few hiccups.

I truly hope that there is some satisfaction & enjoyment for tackling these  tech situations along with the accompanying headaches.

I can?t imagine ? it just doesn?t happen for me

Alan W

  • Administrator
  • Eulexic
  • *****
  • Posts: 4961
  • Melbourne, Australia
    • View Profile
    • Email
Re: Punctuation wrongly displayed
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2023, 01:46:30 PM »
Well, now I have done that data conversion. If I now paste in something from a Word document, it looks like “smart quotes”. Problem solved - perhaps...

It looks to me that some of the odd looking stuff in previous posts has been corrected, but not all. It seems that replacement of other punctuation by question marks has not changed. But the main question is, will future posts all be all right? Please let me know.
« Last Edit: January 17, 2023, 01:52:05 PM by Alan W »
Alan Walker
Creator of Lexigame websites

ridethetalk

  • Eulexic
  • ***
  • Posts: 2387
  • Energy efficiency - saving money and the climate
    • View Profile
    • Ride the Talk
Re: Punctuation wrongly displayed
« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2023, 03:29:26 PM »
It seems to be working fine for me again - thanks Alan...  ;D ;D ;D
The greenest watt ever produced is the one you never use. Playing as jk1956 & John is my name.
When we come out of the Covid-19 crisis, we need to make sure recovery efforts address the Climate Crisis (which can't be solved using social distancing!)

Wibbly Bits

  • Logologist
  • **
  • Posts: 70
  • Perth, Western Australia
    • View Profile
Re: Punctuation wrongly displayed
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2023, 04:15:49 PM »
Being an Apple user, I had assumed it was an IOS vs Windows incompatibility.

“ Let’s see if that’s the case”, he said cheekily.    :D

TRex

  • Eulexic
  • ***
  • Posts: 2038
  • ~50 miles from Chicago, in the Corn (maize) Belt
    • View Profile
Re: Punctuation wrongly displayed
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2023, 03:14:46 AM »
Being an Apple user, I had assumed it was an IOS vs Windows incompatibility.

I'd actually be surprised if the server hosting the forum ran either iOS or Windows. Much more likely to be some form of Linux.

Alan W

  • Administrator
  • Eulexic
  • *****
  • Posts: 4961
  • Melbourne, Australia
    • View Profile
    • Email
Re: Punctuation wrongly displayed
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2023, 07:30:48 AM »

I'd actually be surprised if the server hosting the forum ran either iOS or Windows. Much more likely to be some form of Linux.

Correct
Alan Walker
Creator of Lexigame websites

Ozzyjack

  • Eulexic
  • ***
  • Posts: 4581
  • Redlands, SEQ
    • View Profile
Re: Punctuation wrongly displayed
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2023, 09:52:55 AM »
Hi Alan,

I haven't tested the change to its limits, but it looks like you have solved the problem.  Thanks for getting onto it so quickly.

My technical knowledge is still firmly rooted in the 1960s and I have a very limited understanding of the details involved.
Regards, Jack

Maudland

  • Cryptoverbalist
  • *
  • Posts: 917
  • London, UK
    • View Profile
Re: Punctuation wrongly displayed
« Reply #8 on: January 18, 2023, 11:33:12 AM »
Hi Alan,

It wasn’t just stuff copied from Word - I’m on an iPhone and was plagued too! I’ve tried switching on ‘smart’ punctuation again - let’s see … 🤞🏻