Encoding Formats
Check
Japanese Character Encoding Formats for a bit on the different encodings that exist for Kanji based input/output systems. My
personal preference, and what I recommend for E2 is EUC, which has shown to resist being eaten by the E2
filters. SJIS uses the
left bracket in a few
combinations, which no doubt raises issues.
Unicode, while a good idea and all, isn't terribly universal. It's the least common encoding format on the net, and until they get their act together, we probably won't be using it.
Kanji support:
Netscape, Mozilla, and Internet Explorer all support 3 or more encoding formats, including EUC, JIS, and SJIS, so platform compatibility shouldn't be an issue. Additionally, for Japanese character support in IE, you should download the optional langauge pack, as it includes the font
MS Gothic (if you have
Win2K and added Japanese text support, you already have that,
MS Mincho, and
MS UI Gothic).
Writeup Creation and Editing:
A few
difficulties will arise should you start messing with encoding formats while creating/editing a writeup inside the browser.
To avoid this, use a seperate editor, either
NJStar or my favorite,
JWPce (which is opensource, and runs on WINE). By editing in there, and copy/pasting (make sure your output format is correct), you can avoid character set mixups. If you edit an EUC encoded
writeup while in EUC mode, and you submit it, you will end up with something totally unlike what you put in there originally. Why this happens, I don't know, but it's safest to be in Wester European (
ISO) or
Western European (
Windows), if you want to edit the node without opening the external editor.
A few more notes on node formatting, and some definitions:
At the start of your node, or at the bottom, list your encoding format, for example:
------------------
EUC Encoded.
Since E2 defaults to the standard ISO character set, the reader will have to manually set the page, this makes it easy, so they won't have to point and guess.
Some definitions, which apply to the previous writeup here:
on-yomi are the chinese reading of the kanji.
kun-yomi is the Japanese reading of the kanji.
nanori are the readings used for names.
All of the above are related solely to the Japanese usage of kanji, as the actual chinese reading of some kanji will differ widely, and Japanese uses all 3 forms of reading.
Kanji are an important part of the Japanese language, and to forget them while creating E2 would leave a serious deficit in its banks of information