creating pages in pinyin

[Guest Mrs. Max Powers]

how can i publish a website that includes pinyin and allows everyone to view it properly? since there is no universal pinyin font, is it even possible?

[nnt]

how can i publish a website that includes pinyin and allows everyone to view it properly? since there is no universal pinyin font, is it even possible?

You can. Pinyin characters are just a few characters in Unicode character set. Any browser capable of viewing Unicode from an Unicode compliant OS (Windows 2000 upwards, Linux, etc...) can view all Unicode languages simultaneously.

"Universal font" in Windows : Arial Unicode MS (included in Office 2000 upwards)

[Guest Mrs. Max Powers]

i wrote all my text in word 2000 using a macro to change the pinyin text from numbers to tone markers. when i cut and pasted into a wysiwyg editor, adobe go-live, it changed all the third tones into squares. i tried diffrent fonts, including arial and arial unicode with no luck.

is there anyway to fix this. i have hundreds of pages written and don't want to go and rewrite it all.

[nnt]

What is your OS? In which language? WHat's the version of your Wysiwig editor? Can you copy and paste something here to visualize part of your text?

Can you read the following letters?

ǎǐǒǔǚě

[Guest Mrs. Max Powers]

Windows 98 (US) English OS, and have downloaded the east asian package to view and write characters. I'm using Adobe GoLive 5.0, but if that's the problem i also have dreamweaver and frontpage (would rather not use fp though). my html is very very rusty.

here a pinyin cut and paste from word 2000 using a macro:

xiā xiá xiǎ xià = xia1 xia2 xia3 xia4

cuī cuí cuǐ cuì = cui1 cui2 cui3 cui4

ǎi jǎ mǎ wǎi = ai3 ja3 ma3 wai3

the 3rd tone looks fine in word, and prints fine too, but it won't cut and paste correctly regardless of what i do.

i can only read the last e3 in your list, the first 5 are just squares.

i appreciate the help greatly.

[nnt]

On the reverse, I can read correctly what you've pasted in pinyin.

The problem is not with Word 2000 but with Windows 98 which is not Unicode compliant.

This link may solve your problem:

http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/utilities_editors.html

In order to edit Unicode texts you should switch to Windows 2000 or XP instead of remaining with Windows 98.

[Guest Mrs. Max Powers]

thanks much for the help. i've been wanting install an english windows 2000, but i can't find the software, only chinese platforms here, ill keep looking though. i wouldnt mind using chinese windows 2000, but mr. power wont have it, it screws with some of his programs.

i followed the link and followed the steps for my wysiwyg editor, and im still seeing boxes, im guessing this will not change until i upgrade operating systems.

does this mean anyone using windows 9x can't view the page properly?? what about mac or linux users?

[nnt]

All modern OS (including Mac and Linux ) are Unicode compliant. All modern browsers and apps can read Unicode data. If you want to go mainstream, you should use Windows XP (or at least Windows 2000)whatever its language.

[林彪]

Here's a handy utility:

http://www.fozza.com/zhongwen/converter.htm

[nnt]

One more point: even if ǎǐǒǔǚě aren't displayed correctly in your GOlive5/Windows98, they are correctly viewed on the Internet through a browser because the conversion Unicode <> GB ( code of PRC Windows 98) is done inside the browser (if you choose the right display option).

[Taibei]

This is actually quite complicated. Displaying pinyin (with tone marks) properly is affected by at least three things: operating system (even different Windows versions respond differently), browser (IE does better in some cases, I hate to admit), and available fonts.

I've made a tool I that tries to allow for maximum accessibility while still preserving Web standards: Convert pinyin tone numbers to tone marks. It will also spit out code for Web pages, if you want it to.