need advice for web pages w/Netscape Composer

[Richard Robin]

Check out George Mitrevski's tutorials at
http://www.auburn.edu/~mitrege/knowledge/index.html

They were great for me. Keep in mind that he uses koi8 exclusively for
Cyrillic. If you plan to use lots of interactive forms for Cyrillic using
Windows Cyrillic (1251), there is one little trick that he does not cover:
in Java Script's prompts for validating inputs, don't type a word with я
(ja, lower case). This will hang users' computers, if they are using
Netscape Communicator. To avoid this problem, "escape" the last letter of
the Russian alphabet with a backslash.

So... in Java Script, when using WinCyrillic, when validating a user's
answer, DON'T do this:

validate предложения [predlozhenija]
(Note: while this "problem" happens in Win Cyrillic 1251, I am typing this
example in Netscape 4.0 Mail, which converts e-mail from 1251 to koi8
automatically. If you are reading this message in an e-mail program other
than Netscape, it will look like I'm discussing 1251 but giving this example
in koi8. It's not a subtle trick on my part. It's how Netscape codes e-mail)

Instead key in this:

validate предложени\я? [prelozheni\ja]

When Java Script executes, the letter [ja] will show up normally on the
screen.

This applies to words containing lower-case ja only as part of Java Script
commands, not to Russian words in html outside of Java Script. It also does
not apply to words the user types in.

Finally, NONE of this applies to anything written in koi8. The problem is
that in WinCyrillic1251, ja occupies ANSI 255, a reserved code in some kinds
of programs.

If all of the above sounds like gibberish, just take one or two of
Mitrevski's Cyrillic Java Scripts for Russian in koi8. Rekey in the Russian
in "normal" Windows Cyrillic (i.e. Times New Roman Cyr) in Netscape, then
"Preview" the results. Your computer will crash. At that point, it will
become clear why you need the backslash "ja" solution.

Best regards,
Rich Robin


--
Richard Robin - http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~rrobin
Chair, German and Slavic Dept.
The George Washington University
WASHINGTON, DC 20052
Can read HTML mail.
Читаю по-русски в любой кодировке.
Chitayu po-russki v lyuboi kodirovke.