HTML character sets

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    What is Character Encoding?

    Character encoding is a system of representing characters in binary so that they can be stored in a computer or transmitted over a network. Each character encoding has a specific set of characters that it can represent.


    Unicode and UTF-8

    In HTML5, the default character encoding is UTF-8. UTF-8 is a method of encoding characters as a sequence of bytes. It includes almost every character from all known languages, plus some additional symbols.


    Why UTF-8?

    UTF-8 has become the dominant character encoding for the World Wide Web, accounting for more than half of all web pages. The main reasons for this are its simplicity and flexibility.


    Specifying the Character Set in HTML

    You can specify the character set used in your HTML document using the <meta charset=""> tag. For example, if we're using UTF-8, we could specify this like:

    <meta charset="UTF-8">

    Why do we need to specify the Character Encoding?

    Without specifying the character encoding, the browser may interpret the HTML document with a different character set, which can result in scrambled text, special characters displaying incorrectly, and other issues. Therefore, it's essential to declare the character set in the HTML document.


    Where to place the Character Encoding in HTML?

    The character encoding declaration should be placed as early as possible in an HTML document. It is recommended to place it in the first line of the HTML <head> section.


    Other Types of Character Encodings

    Though UTF-8 is the most common and recommended, there are also other types of character encodings, such as ISO-8859-1 (for Western European languages), and Shift_JIS (for Japanese). However, these are less commonly used as UTF-8 can handle virtually all languages.


    Summary

    In summary, character encoding is vital for the accurate display and transmission of text in HTML. By setting our character set with <meta charset="UTF-8">, we ensure the broadest compatibility with languages and special characters.