”.
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2007, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/2 "2007-04-07T11:28:35Z")
I don’t have a problem with those “funny” characters in Firefox 1.5.0.11 on Macintosh OS X 10.4.9, but on the pages you mention I see “box characters” (a diamond with a question mark) using Safari 2.0.4. In my experience, I see a problem with “em dashes” and “smart quotes”. I can’t tell from your description if that is what’s happening with you, kjolb.
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2007, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/3 "2007-04-07T12:09:35Z")
I upgraded to Firefox 2.0.0.3 on the Macintosh and I still don’t see “question marks” in the places you say, kjolb.
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### Author:  [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/4 "2007-04-07T15:56:33Z")
I’ve alerted the authorities, **kjkolb**. Thanks.
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/5 "2007-04-07T18:00:24Z")
We’re looking at our coding procedures to see if we can standardize so it looks the same way – properly! – for everyone.
I will tell you that this is a PC-based environment here and that Mac users should be accustomed to stuff not being perfect by now, that’s one of the problems with having a Mac. I also note that Mac users do seem to have more of a need to run the most recent versions of whatever software they have, including any fixes that may come out.
This is not meant to be a slam towards Macs or Mac owners and should not be taken personally or offensively. Just saying. I own some Mac equipment my own self and do prefer it for some things. …not Straight Dope content. 🙂
We are working on it.
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/6 "2007-04-07T18:58:38Z")
[QUOTE=TubaDiva]
Mac users should be accustomed to stuff not being perfect by now, that’s one of the problems with having a Mac.
[/QUOTE]
The problem is not with my Mac, it’s the rest of the world that is screwed up! My Macintosh is so friendly and eager to get along, like a cute puppy.
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2007, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/7 "2007-04-09T06:53:09Z")
I saw the ? for dashes with Safari. I just changed Text Encoding from Default to Western (ISO Latin1), now it’s fixed.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2007, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/8 "2007-04-15T01:25:47Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#):
>
> I will tell you that this is a PC-based environment here and that Mac users should be accustomed to stuff not being perfect by now, that’s one of the problems with having a Mac.
Nonsense. Writing good, conforming HTML and setting content types correctly make things work portably, and if anyone has a problem with good pages you can ignore them. This whole Mac/PC crap is nonsense in this context.
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### Author:  [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2007, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/9 "2007-04-15T04:18:01Z")
**TubaDiva**
Although I don’t own one, I agree with your “_one of the problems with having a Mac_” comment and therefore disagree with **Derleth** ’s comment _"Writing good, conforming HTML and setting content types correctly make things work portably_"
I’ve received E-Mails (from Mac users) that my website calculators sometimes produce errors in _powers_ of ten.
(e.g. 1 inch = 2540 centimeters)
Also, I’m sure we’ve all heard the stories about Windows Vista causing problems for users transferring songs to and from their I-Pods.
To me it seems, despite the supposed affiliation of Microsoft and Apple, Bill doesn’t go out of his way to ensure compatibility.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/10 "2007-04-16T14:19:26Z")
**wolf\_meister** : That’s Javascript. Javascript is known to be a portability nightmare. Straight HTML with minimal markup and not even any CSS to speak of is _absolutely_ portable if written intelligently.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2007, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/11 "2007-04-16T15:43:38Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Straight HTML with minimal markup and not even any CSS to speak of is absolutely portable if written intelligently.
And Java, CSS and those other things are also portable, if you follow the standards instead of Microsoft.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/12 "2007-04-16T15:56:55Z")
I don’t suppose by any chance those staff reports were composed in Microsoft Word and then pasted into a web browser?
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2007, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/13 "2007-04-16T16:13:59Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos]
And Java, CSS and those other things are also portable, if you follow the standards instead of Microsoft.
[/QUOTE]
Java doesn’t have anything to do with the browser as long as the browser is capable of embedding applets at all. Javascript, on the other hand, is run by the browser and can change arbitrary elements of the page.
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2007, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/14 "2007-04-17T14:08:27Z")
[QUOTE=AHunter3]
I don’t suppose by any chance those staff reports were composed in Microsoft Word and then pasted into a web browser?
[/QUOTE]
Worse. Word Perfect. But yes, that’s what goes on; it starts in WP and goes to FrontPage and then goes to the server.
FrontPage may be the main culprit as it often throws stuff in just because; I’ve often had to edit big strings of stupidity out of columns that FrontPage generated.
I do believe Ed had some computer changes fairly recently and may be dealing with newer versions of software; not sure if Vista is an issue here as well but that is possible. I’ll ask him.
I also suspect that the Macs that are having the most problems are those that have not upgraded recently as well; my understanding is that the longer Macs go without upgrades the more differences it finds with Windows, especially more advanced editions.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2007, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/15 "2007-04-17T16:52:48Z")
Don’t use Front Page if you want the results to be compatible with the rest of the world.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2007, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/16 "2007-04-18T03:20:55Z")
[Here is the W3C Validation Service.](http://validator.w3.org/) It should be very helpful in creating webpages everyone can enjoy, as opposed to ones tied to a specific platform.
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### Author:  [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2007, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/17 "2007-05-08T08:01:47Z")
I’ve had a problem with Unicode in Safari, both displaying and reading, on all parts of this site. The board doesn’t play well with Safari, and I’ve had the same problem with apostrophes, dashes, and other punctuation and diacritics that the OP mentions. Force-loading an encoding clears things up, but I shouldn’t have a problem with it in the first place since I use Unicode as the default encoding.
I’m not sure what the compatibility problem is for sure, but it’s darn odd. I’ve had no problems with double-byte character input on other message boards, but this one [chokes](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=412564) on it sometimes.
Firefox works properly though, so it might be something a little off in how Safari deals with encoding. The odd thing about _that_ is that most of the guts of Safari is based on the open-source Web Kit, and usually the open-source community is very good about vetting universal compatibility issues.
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### Author:  [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2007, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/18 "2007-05-13T10:43:01Z")
I’d just like to post support for supporting actual standards. Such programs as Front Page that are seeking to make their own standards are devious attempts to appropriate that which is meant to be universal. It ain’t called the World Wide Web for nothing.
Please encourage those folks that generate content for the web to do so in a manner that is respectful to the medium they are using. Using standard coding is as logical as NOT using a stone tablet to publish a newspaper.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2007, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-code-in-staff-reports/399090/19 "2007-05-16T00:56:42Z")
[QUOTE=AHunter3]
Don’t use Front Page if you want the results to be compatible with the rest of the world.
[/QUOTE]
Absolutely. Frontpage had the audacity to expect you actually change the way the hosting server works in order to upload perfectly ordinary HTML. [Frontpage Extensions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FrontPage_Server_Extensions) are (or were, I don’t hear about them much anymore) a travesty.