Guideline

One Web page cannot refer to more than two different character sets at the same time. Therefore, the only way to correctly display various languages on the same Web interface is to use Unicode, particularly if there are Asian languages or Arabic.

As a result, a multilingual interface showing all FAO languages should use Unicode. In doing so, make sure that the computer or the server where the pages are being developed supports Unicode. This is a common practice for all dynamic pages displaying information in various languages (e.g. the Information Finder, Corporate Document Repository and CDS).

Following is an example of how to create UTF-8:

1. copy your text into Windows' Notepad;
2. change the font to one that accepts Unicode (e.g. Arial Unicode);
3. save the file as a *.txt file changing Encoding to UTF-8;
4. open the file in an HTML Editor (Macromedia's HomeSite or Dreamweaver), ignoring the first few characters that explain that it is UTF-8.

It works for Arabic and Chinese.