# Getting unicode ᚠᚢᚦᚬᚱᚴ characters to display properly **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 28, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378 "2011-08-28T13:14:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Huvudtvatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Huvudtvatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huvudtvatt)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/1 "2011-08-28T13:14:08Z")
I have a blog where I want to use the Runic letters as represented by the unicode block U+16A0–U+16FF. Is there any way to make sure these are rendered properly by all browsers? It seems to work fine in Firefox and IE but in Chrome the characters come out as squares. I suppose I could convert the text to images to be on the safe side, but is it really necessary? I’m using blogger/blogspot, but this problem with chrome seems to be on all pages, even [wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Younger_Futhark). Example: ᚠᚢᚦᚬᚱᚴᚼᚾᛁᛅᛋᛏᛒᛘᛚᛦ Any input welcome. Can you see these characters? What browser/system are you using? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/2 "2011-08-28T13:27:38Z")
Yes, I see the characters. I am using Firefox with Western ISO 8859-1 encoding. However, I doubt there is any way (short of using graphics instead of text) that you can ensure that _everyone_ will see them. It is going to depend on things you cannot control, such as whether they have the requisite font on their machine, and what “character encoding” scheme they have set in their browser. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/3 "2011-08-28T14:39:49Z")
Are the characters supposed to be little squares with numbers and letters in them? If so then yes I can see them. Firefox 6.0. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/4 "2011-08-28T14:44:41Z")
Safari - all I see are tiny squares. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/5 "2011-08-28T14:46:56Z")
I can see them. Firefox 7.0 but as someone mentioned, the browser isn’t the only factor. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/6 "2011-08-28T14:48:16Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Safari - all I see are tiny squares. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/7 "2011-08-28T14:48:42Z")
IPad, nothing but squares (safari) ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/8 "2011-08-28T14:51:01Z")
On Firefox I can see them correctly, both here and on Wikipedia. On Chrome, running at the same time, I just get little squares. ---
**Author:** ![Huvudtvatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Huvudtvatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huvudtvatt)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/9 "2011-08-28T15:00:19Z")
No, they are not supposed to be little squares. It is the scandinavian runic alphabet known as the younger Futhark, as used by the Vikings. My example should read like the first line of [this picture](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Yngre_futharken.svg). I wouldn’t really need support for all systems everywhere but it would be nice if I could get it to work in Google chrome on a computer such as my own that has the required typefaces and a fully updated Windows7. Is there some kind of tag to give browsers a hint how to display these characters? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/10 "2011-08-28T15:01:45Z")
I see them in IE 9 (64 bit) as well as in FF6, but only squares (without numbers in them) in Chrome. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/11 "2011-08-28T15:15:13Z")
I think you just need to download the fonts. I’ve been prompted by other websites to download needed fonts for sections of unicode, so its apparently possible to prompt people to do so if they don’t have them installed, but I couldn’t tell you how to set it up. ---
**Author:** ![Huvudtvatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Huvudtvatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huvudtvatt)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/12 "2011-08-28T15:20:07Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > I think you just need to download the fonts. I’ve been prompted by other websites to download needed fonts for sections of unicode, so its apparently possible to prompt people to do so if they don’t have them installed, but I couldn’t tell you how to set it up. I don’t think it’s that simple. I have the fonts, and so do njtt and ZenBeam apparently, but it doesn’t seem to work in Safari or Chrome. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/13 "2011-08-28T15:51:56Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Yes, I see the characters. I am using Firefox with Western ISO 8859-1 encoding. > > However, I doubt there is any way (short of using graphics instead of text) that you can ensure that _everyone_ will see them. It is going to depend on things you cannot control, such as whether they have the requisite font on their machine, and what “character encoding” scheme they have set in their browser. Firefox with Western ICO 8859-1 here as well, but I only see squares with numbers in them. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/14 "2011-08-28T16:22:00Z")
FWIW, the characters look fine on my WIN7 machine. Browsers are IE8 and Opera v11.11 ---
**Author:** ![Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicolas_Bourbaki)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/15 "2011-08-28T17:07:30Z")
This is weird: in Chrome it displays in the tab title, but not on the actual page. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/16 "2011-08-28T18:36:49Z")
That is weird. I tried bookmarking it in my bookmarks bar, and it display correctly there also. ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/17 "2011-08-28T20:13:00Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > FWIW, the characters look fine on my WIN7 machine. Browsers are IE8 and Opera v11.11 …but little boxes with the same Opera version on WinXP. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/18 "2011-08-28T21:11:41Z")
I’m using Chromium 12.0.742.112 (90304) on Ubuntu 11.04. The fonts display correctly in the title bar and in the thread, but not on the thread list page. Firefox 6.0 for Ubuntu works fine in the thread list as well. Si ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/19 "2011-08-28T21:23:59Z")
Look at the page source for [Omniglot](http://www.omniglot.com/writing/runic.htm) and do whatever they do. p.s. – Their [FAQ](http://www.omniglot.com/faqs.htm) has some useful info. ---
**Author:** ![Huvudtvatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Huvudtvatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huvudtvatt)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378/20 "2011-08-28T22:13:27Z")
Thanks **ratatoskK** but that website seems to be doing exactly what I was trying to avoid. Their texts are just .gif images. I guess it’s the only way to be sure it will come out right but I was hoping for some kind of tag or script that would make it clear to Chrome and Safari how to display the runic characters if you have the proper font installed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-unicode-characters-to-display-properly/594378.md?page=2)