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However, if i try to add this text into the site using DREAMWEAVER MX how can i be sure that users who view the site will read the simsun font?
it seems that allow my version of Word is showing the font as Simsun it is not a standard windows font. If i download this font from the web ie: simsun.ttf [which seems to be a download of 10MB!] this will be far too big for other users to download if they want to see the chinese symbols.
has anyone had an experience of re-creating an existing english based site into chinese?
i don't want to use GIF images to show the chinese - i would prefer to use this simsun font.
P
Try something like this:
回到未来
From what I read, unicode development is the common solution for many Asian font challenges, including Chinese. But the user still needs a proper Chinese font on his/her computer to render that unicode on screen -- otherwise they just get a bunch of square boxes, right?
And also from what I read, there are still many shortfalls in this process. but SimSun is one of the best current things going - so many users will have it if they plan to read Chinese content.
If you go with Unicode, I believe that users will have their computers set to render the unicode with their font of choice. Users with SimSun see that font as the rendering, and users with a different font will see it.
So there is no way to guarantee that a user will have any particular font. But anyone interested in reading Chinese must already have some sort of configuration going on their computer that allows the unicode to be rendered.
I have translated some of my pages into Chinese, with both simplified and traditional character versions. The encoding for these pages is GB2312 and Big5 and is specified in the doc type.
To get the text out of Word and into the html as GB2312 or Big5 you will need to convert it. NJStar do a trial download of their Communicator which has a facility to convert any Chinese text that is copied to the clipboard. You just paste the converted code into the html. I use notepad so I have no idea if Dreamweaver can cope with this.
The font used in Word does not matter because it's lost as soon as you lift the text (whether in GB2312, Big5, or Unicode). It needs to be specified in the html, although I only specify the font size and let the user browser define the font.
You also need to be careful about font sizes. Chinese characters take up the full height of a line so look bigger than English. Some of the Chinese sites I have seen seem to favour odd-numbered font sizes, e.g., 9pt and 11pt, where we tend to think in even numbered font sizes.
I agree with HarryM that Unicode is not the most popular in Asia, particularly China and Japan. I use GB2312 on my mainland sites as well.
I used to have a machine with a Chinese OS to play with, and I used it to get fonts for CSS files. However, I've noticed that a lot of sites don't bother with specifying the font name at all. They set the font size, but not the family. I'm not sure if this is just my experience or whether it is widespread. Personally I no longer specify the font on my Chinese sites. If I did I would get the Chinese names of the fonts I wanted to use.
Chinese sites are often layed out differently to Western sites. For instance they often use more than three columns to avoid long lines of text. Most I have seen are based on tables, presumably because tables are more stable in a multi-column layout.
Navigation is something else to consider because it would be pointless having pages in Chinese if the navigation is left in English. You should also have a link to switch back to the English pages.
Chinese pages are often very busy, with no space unfilled. Because you can usually describe a Chinese page with only two characters, the whole site navigation is often in a couple of lines at the top of the page.
If you are using IE the fonts will download automatically (with a prompt) and it doesn't take long.Are you speaking of some sort of font embedding? I wouldn't suggest doing that with any site, particularly with an Asian site where the font sets are large. Use CSS. If the user has the font, it will show up, if not you can allow it to degrade gracefully via the cascade.
You can certainly use a certain font for graphic text, but leave the plain text alone (aside from CSS styling). You'll save yourself and your viewers a lot of headaches.
Sorry if my post wasn't clear. I was suggesting that the original poster would benefit from looking around typical Chinese sites (if he hasn't already done so). If he has an IE browser and does not have Chinese fonts on his system (which would be standard for a Western PC), then IE will prompt for the MS default Chinese fonts to be downloaded. A native Chinese PC will already have default fonts.
I don't think CSS is an issue here. Simply set a font size (either by <font> or CSS) and the end users browser will supply the font. In my experience some fonts (e.g., Sim Hei) do not resize well, and some are not available on native Chinese PCs. Far better to leave the choice to the browser. You can still use <b>... </b> to enhance text.
Added later:
Another reason for not specifying fonts. A page may look great to Western eyes with certain fonts, but the fonts may look inappropriate to a native Chinese - 'Ye Olde Tea Shoppe' effect.
