What font am I missing for forum messages?
 

I'm running Fedora and using Firefox to access my mail. I was kind of hoping it would fix itself at some point, but alas. . . :

This what I see for forum messages in my inbox:

That looks more like an encoding error.

The message might be sent in UTF-8, but the client is decoding ISO-8859-1. Or some combination like that.

Have a look at the charset value. e.g. 'charset="iso-8859-1"' in the header for "Content-Type:". And also check that your client settings aren't forcing an encoding.

[QUOTE=retina;566720]That looks more like an encoding error.

The message might be sent in UTF-8, but the client is decoding ISO-8859-1. Or some combination like that.

Have a look at the charset value. e.g. 'charset="iso-8859-1"' in the header for "Content-Type:". And also check that your client settings aren't forcing an encoding.[/QUOTE]
Well, I can't seem to get anywhere. I copied the text and tried it in several programs on my main system and a few of my math machines and none will display readable (by me) text. I can't find any machine settings, although my machine claims to be familiar with several hundred encodings. I found ways to convert documents, but nothing that allows me to set up recognition across the computer. I did not try to make a document to convert, since the real goal is to be able to read this directly without copy/paste/convert.

As for, "also check that your client settings aren't forcing an encoding," would this be my Firefox that's doing the encoding, or possibly my web based email provider?

[QUOTE=EdH;567123]As for, "also check that your client settings aren't forcing an encoding," would this be my Firefox that's doing the encoding, or possibly my web based email provider?[/QUOTE]Copy/paste etc. won't help here. Once it has the wrong encoding and displaying the wrong characters then you lose the information. You need to convert the original source using the correct encoding. Only then you can copy/paste/convert/etc.

It might be that the sender is sending the wrong encoding. Check the email headers to see what is happening. Look at the "Content-Type:" header and compare that to the contents.

Not sure if this will help but I have had similar issues with file names in Korean font which were zipped. The issue was that windows native unzipper is not able to decode the font. Using a more dedicated program such as 7-zip does a much better job. So if there is any compression anywhere try a dedicated compression program rather than the built in OS.

[QUOTE=a1call;567170]Not sure if this will help but I have had similar issues with file names in Korean [color=red]font[/color] which were zipped. The issue was that windows native unzipper is not able to decode the [color=red]font[/color]. Using a more dedicated program such as 7-zip does a much better job. So if there is any compression anywhere try a dedicated compression program rather than the built in OS.[/QUOTE]Yes, Windows is a bit shit with character encodings in some cases. But calling it a font is confusing and incorrect. Fonts are for the display of characters; that is, the shapes you see on the screen. Encodings are for defining which character to use. So the proper term is "Korean characters", or at a stretch "Korean letters". There is no Korean font.

[QUOTE=retina;567169]Copy/paste etc. won't help here. Once it has the wrong encoding and displaying the wrong characters then you lose the information. You need to convert the original source using the correct encoding. Only then you can copy/paste/convert/etc.

It might be that the sender is sending the wrong encoding. Check the email headers to see what is happening. Look at the "Content-Type:" header and compare that to the contents.[/QUOTE]Well, as can be seen in the original image, this board is the sender. These are messages telling my threads of interest have new posts. This is the reason I brought it up here. (Well, that and the knowledgable folks, like yourself.)

[QUOTE=EdH;567173]Well, as can be seen in the original image, this board is the sender.[/QUOTE]What is that value in the "Content-Type:" header field?

[QUOTE=retina;567175]What is that value in the "Content-Type:" header field?[/QUOTE]
There is no "Content-Type:" that I can find.

[QUOTE=EdH;567177]There is no "Content-Type:" that I can find.[/QUOTE]Then your email client will use its default encoding to decode the characters.

What is the default encoding setting?

[QUOTE=retina;567178]Then your email client will use its default encoding to decode the characters.

What is the default encoding setting?[/QUOTE]It's web based email. I have no client. I'm using Firefox to access the webmail (Juno).


I just forwarded one of the messages to a Yahoo address and it looks fine with the same Firefox browser. I guess the issue is Juno.

[QUOTE=EdH;567188]It's web based email. I have no client. I'm using Firefox to access the webmail (Juno).[/QUOTE]Your client software is Juno. So check the settings in Juno.

The browser won't make any difference. It just displays what it has been told to show.

[QUOTE=EdH;567188]It's web based email. I have no client. I'm using Firefox to access the webmail (Juno).[/QUOTE]It is a known issue with Juno.

[QUOTE=retina;567191]Your client software is Juno. So check the settings in Juno.

The browser won't make any difference. It just displays what it has been told to show.[/QUOTE]
I can't find any settings anywhere. I guess I'm misunderstanding something. I'm not running any Juno software on my machine. It's strictly within a browser window that accesses Juno.com to sign in and work with all the email, just like Yahoo and Gmail.

[QUOTE=EdH;567193]I can't find any settings anywhere. I guess I'm misunderstanding something. I'm not running any Juno software on my machine. It's strictly within a browser window that accesses Juno.com to sign in and work with all the email, just like Yahoo and Gmail.[/QUOTE]You aren't running it, but the server is. The software is on the server. You only use the browser to see it. It is the same with all web based email, the client code runs on the server. That includes gmail, yahoo, msn, all of them.

[QUOTE=retina;567194]You aren't running it, but the server is. The software is on the server. You only use the browser to see it. It is the same with all web based email, the client code runs on the server. That includes gmail, yahoo, msn, all of them.[/QUOTE]That's kind of what I thought, but wasn't seeing it as server/client, just a Juno server was allowing me to connect and manipulate my email via a browser. Perhaps I should be contacting Juno support. Or, I might just move my forum setting to Yahoo, since I already know it renders the text correctly.

Thanks, retina! I appreciate the help.

[QUOTE=EdH;567177]There is no "Content-Type:" that I can find.[/QUOTE]
Hmm. I assume your emails are in an inbox at the web site. I would look at the web site for viewing or reading options for your messages like "long headers" or "raw content" which is what even rudimentary email programs on personal computers have offered for decades.

Since FF has no built in email client, you could use Thunderbird as a proper client.
[url]https://help.juno.com/support/webmail/wm-email-setup.html[/url]
Tells you how to set-up a client with Juno. That may help.
Juno is old and has not seen much in the way of updates in a long time.

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;567237]Hmm. I assume your emails are in an inbox at the web site. I would look at the web site for viewing or reading options for your messages like "long headers" or "raw content" which is what even rudimentary email programs on personal computers have offered for decades.[/QUOTE]
I couldn't find such in the search I did, but it's quite possibly there. I'm thinking the easier solution is to direct forum messages elsewhere. (Or, not worry about what the subject says, since they are mostly just the same note that something has occurred and the real info is within the text body, anyway.)
[QUOTE=Uncwilly;567239]Since FF has no built in email client, you could use Thunderbird as a proper client.
[URL]https://help.juno.com/support/webmail/wm-email-setup.html[/URL]
Tells you how to set-up a client with Juno. That may help.
Juno is old and has not seen much in the way of updates in a long time.[/QUOTE]Thunderbird would tie me to a machine. I actually did that a few years ago, but now those messages are effectively lost due to machine changes. Keeping the messages on the cloud allows me to get them from many different tablets, lap/desktop systems. I'm often looking for older messages.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Are those private message notifications?

If so, it could be the weird font we use.

[CODE]$ echo "ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ɴᴇᴡ ᴘʀɪᴠᴀᴛᴇ ᴍᴇssᴀɢᴇ ᴀᴛ ᴍᴇʀsᴇɴɴᴇғᴏʀᴜᴍ.ᴏʀɢ" | od -c
0000000 312 217 341 264 217 341 264 234 312 234 341 264 200 341 264
0000020 240 341 264 207 341 264 200 311 264 341 264 207 341 264
0000040 241 341 264 230 312 200 311 252 341 264 240 341 264 200 341
0000060 264 233 341 264 207 341 264 215 341 264 207 s s 341 264
0000100 200 311 242 341 264 207 341 264 200 341 264 233 341 264
0000120 215 341 264 207 312 200 s 341 264 207 311 264 311 264 341 264
0000140 207 322 223 341 264 217 312 200 341 264 234 341 264 215 . 341
0000160 264 217 312 200 311 242 \n
0000167

$ echo "YOU HAVE A NEW PRIVATE MESSAGE AT MERSENNEFORUM.ORG" | od -c
0000000 Y O U H A V E A N E W P
0000020 R I V A T E M E S S A G E A
0000040 T M E R S E N N E F O R U M .
0000060 O R G \n
0000064[/CODE]

These are the general message notifications, but the private ones look very similar. The images I attached are what displays for the same subject with the two different email systems. The readable one is Yahoo and the unreadable is Juno. But, at this point I think I'll either "live with it" or direct the notifications to Yahoo. I had thought I was simply missing a font, but it has gotten much more involved.

We will change the emails to use normal characters.

Edit: Done!

:mike:

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;567254]If so, it could be the weird [color=red]font[/color] we use.

<snip>[/QUOTE]Those are characters. Nothing to do with fonts.

[QUOTE=EdH;567251]I couldn't find such in the search I did, but it's quite possibly there. I'm thinking the easier solution is to direct forum messages elsewhere. (Or, not worry about what the subject says, since they are mostly just the same note that something has occurred and the real info is within the text body, anyway.)
Thunderbird would tie me to a machine. I actually did that a few years ago, but now those messages are effectively lost due to machine changes. Keeping the messages on the cloud allows me to get them from many different tablets, lap/desktop systems. I'm often looking for older messages.

Thanks for all the suggestions.[/QUOTE]
You probably want to use IMAP rather than POP3. It leaves the emails on the server.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;567258]We will change the emails to use normal characters.

Edit: Done!

:mike:[/QUOTE]Et voilà! All is now readable. Thanks!

[QUOTE=henryzz;567275]You probably want to use IMAP rather than POP3. It leaves the emails on the server.[/QUOTE]Yeah, I remember there was some setting I had done to be able to get them to Thunderbird, but then they disappeared from the web. And, actually, at the time, they didn't readily show up in Thunderbird. I had to "find" them in something other than the Inbox. But, that was long ago, so my memory is somewhat fuzzy.