extended characters

>
>a technical question
>
>i'm trying to figure out if it is possible to include extended ascii
>characters in a web page (as they are included in the attached table
>ascii2.gif - particularily #176, 240, 254 and 255)

The problem is that the extended characters depend from the font. The
table shows the 'ASCII IBM extended character set' which is used in DOS.

>the convention
> <   &#---;   >

... isn't needed

>which works to call characters from the standard ascii table, does not
>work for the extended table, instead you end up with IS0 entities
>(accented characters etc.)

You need a font tag which tells the browser that it should use a font
which supports this extended characters. The problem is that Windows
didn't have such a font. Alternative you can use a web font or let the
user download the font. If you have a IE 4.x (5) browser you can see
some samples at:

http://studenten.freepage.de/meph/ascii/other/ansi/ansi2html.htm

(The same system works with Netscape, if you found a TrueType font which
supports the extended IBM char.set.)

>i'm trying to access the characters that appear in DOS when you hold the
><alt> key and type a 3 digit reference number on the number pad

In DOS you have a standard font, but in Windows it depends from the
actual font.

>if anybody knows how or whether this is possible in a web environment,
>please let me know

If you found a free True Type font, it is possible to convert it to a web
font, which is automatic (temp.) installed from the browser. The problems
are: to found such a font, Netscape & Microsoft fonts are incompatible,
you need min. 2 programs to do the conversion, ...
I have given it up :(

Meph.

.----- On Mon, 19 Apr 1999 12:45:41 -0400, Michael Graham posted:
|
|a technical question
|
|i'm trying to figure out if it is possible to include extended ascii
|characters in a web page (as they are included in the attached table
|ascii2.gif - particularily #176, 240, 254 and 255)
|
|the convention
| <   &#---;   >
|which works to call characters from the standard ascii table, does not
|work for the extended table, instead you end up with IS0 entities
|(accented characters etc.)
|
|i'm trying to access the characters that appear in DOS when you hold the
|<alt> key and type a 3 digit reference number on the number pad
|
|if anybody knows how or whether this is possible in a web environment,
|please let me know
|
'----------------------------------

You need to use a value, which I believe is in unicode but I'm not sure.
This doesn't allow for most of the extended DOS characters, but adds a lot
more.
Since the DOS characters are nonstandard (for dos and dos alone) the only
way to do it is to copy+paste them into the webpage - but it will look ugly
on anything apart from DOS. You could also make a GIF of whatever you are
trying to put into the page ... it's clunky but it works.

-Martin
|\/| _..__|_o._   /\_|_| o._  _   mart.atkins@--
|  |(_||  |_|| | /--\|_|<|| |_>            --bigfoot.com

He should use the windows font "terminal".  that has the characters he
wants,
along with all the other DOS characters :O)

it comes as standard with windows, from 3.1 to 98 (AFAIK)

Andrew

Martin Atkins wrote in message <371...@news.vossnet.net>...
>.----- On Mon, 19 Apr 1999 12:45:41 -0400, Michael Graham posted:
>|
>|a technical question
>|
>|i'm trying to figure out if it is possible to include extended ascii
>|characters in a web page (as they are included in the attached table
>|ascii2.gif - particularily #176, 240, 254 and 255)
>|
>|the convention
>| <   &#---;   >
>|which works to call characters from the standard ascii table, does not
>|work for the extended table, instead you end up with IS0 entities
>|(accented characters etc.)
>|
>|i'm trying to access the characters that appear in DOS when you hold the
>|<alt> key and type a 3 digit reference number on the number pad
>|
>|if anybody knows how or whether this is possible in a web environment,
>|please let me know
>|
>'----------------------------------
>
>You need to use a value, which I believe is in unicode but I'm not sure.
>This doesn't allow for most of the extended DOS characters, but adds a lot
>more.
>Since the DOS characters are nonstandard (for dos and dos alone) the only
>way to do it is to copy+paste them into the webpage - but it will look ugly
>on anything apart from DOS. You could also make a GIF of whatever you are
>trying to put into the page ... it's clunky but it works.
>
>-Martin
>|\/| _..__|_o._   /\_|_| o._  _   mart.atkins@--
>|  |(_||  |_|| | /--\|_|<|| |_>            --bigfoot.com

Andrew Carpenter <new...@gloucestershire.freeserve.co.uk> schrieb in im Newsbeitrag: 7flj9m$ne5$1...@news4.svr.pol.co.uk...
> He should use the windows font "terminal".  that has the characters he
> wants,
> along with all the other DOS characters :O)


I have tried to use the 'Terminal' font in HTML, but the browser hasn't displayed
it correct. Could you please post the tags which implement the extended 'Terminal'
characters.

Thanks
  Marc

On Tue, 20 Apr 1999 19:38:30 +0200, Meph (UZS...@ibm.rhrz.uni-bonn.de) wrote:
: You need a font tag which tells the browser that it should use a font
: which supports this extended characters. The problem is that Windows

Actually this should be handled by specifying a suitable charset in the
Content-Type header, which is properly included in the HTTP headers but
can[1] be specified in a META tag:

  <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html;charset=ibm852">

I have no idea if that's the right codepage number - anyone care to
enlighten me?

The problem is that the support for this is limited at best. I suppose the
safest way would be to specify a font containing the desired characters
_in addition to_ specifying the proper charset. But that's mean you'd have
to try to guess the names of the fonts available to the viewer. :-(

The &#nnnn; entities refer to Unicode numbers - I suppose all the DOS
extended characters must have Unicode equivalents, but I have no idea what
the codes are. And the support for that is probably even more limited.

Anyway, none of them are US-ASCII characters, so this doesn't really
belong here.

[1] This may or may not work. Some browsers will redraw the screen if they
encounter such a tag. And don't even think about specifying any other type
than text/html! ;-)

-- 
Ilmari Karonen (ilt...@sci.fi) | Was at a bookstore today, [snip] and noticed
  http://www.sci.fi/~iltzu/   | "Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 for Dummies"
Will fix broken HTML for food | . . . and thought "Yes".  -- Jeff Vinocur