Freelancer created weird characters on all my pages

[cherrybutton]

I really hope someone can help me. I have recurited a freelancer to refresh my ecommerce website. He started the project by converting the current site which is written in HTML into PHP as he said he will built a content system and make friendly URL's for me which is great for a complete non technical person like me.

The problem is that when he converted the content there are all these strange symbols in every single page. The symbols contain stars, question marks and all sorts of strange things. He said I had to change them all back myself in the content system -- which is going to take me forever as this site is 658 pages of full text (should I be doing that myself?) can anyone advise why this may be happening:

Please help an old lady (over 50) in distress.

Example text on my site :-(:

To point that ‘out number 1, number 2, number 3’ however, but all of these would have need to have ‘boats’ at there cenre. Sam wanted ‘to’ go for a walk in the park?

[FalseDawn]

I think this can often be caused by "non-standard" symbols, like those for "1/4", "1/8", copyright and registered trade mark symbols etc. Sometimes, these need to be converted to the HTML representation - ®, ™ etc, or weird symbols can appear.
Although this often depends on how text was converted, too.

To be honest, this is not particularly difficult to correct with a simple find and replace script to cover each case - I suggest you explain this to the coder - it is unreasonable to expect you to manually change these on so many pages.

[edited by: FalseDawn at 4:34 am (utc) on Sep. 10, 2006]

[tbear]

Purely as devil's advocate, perhaps the freelancer didn't realise this would happen (although I'm sure he knows about it now).

Perhaps a little carrott offered (more work in the future? Some increase in fee to compensate for extra work?) may interest him in sorting the thing for you.

[jtara]

I am guessing that he imported your pages into whatever HTML (or HTML/PHP) editor he uses, and it somehow failed to convert special symbols properly. Or, you might have had invalid mark-up in your original pages.

The first thing is to identify just what went wrong - certianly if he is going to do more work for you, neither of you want to repeat the mistake.

Once you know what went wrong, you can decide where to point finge.... er, determine whose responsibility this is to fix. In any case, the developer should be able to fix it without having to hand-edit every case. If the reason is that your original site was improperly-formatted, and depending on the nature of the agreement with him, it may be appropriate to agree on an additional payment for this.

If the problem is simply with the tools he is using, he should take care of it at no additional cost.

[encyclo]

It looks like it could be due to a character encoding mismatch - the developer made the default encoding on the dynamic site different from the one used on the old site. It is the developer's error if this is the case, and they should be asked to fix it. Ask them what character encoding (charset) is used for the new site.

[lammert]

Looks like a character encoding problem. The best way to correct this--on an Apache based system--is to add a AddDefaultCharset statement with the right character set in the <VirtualDirectory> section of the httpd.conf.

[andye]

Hi cherrybutton,

This is a simple situation - he's screwed things up.

Any competent web developer should be able to see what the problem is here (and I'm sure the folks above have diagnosed it correctly as a character set issue, but I'm not certain that's too helpful to you right now!).

He has no justification for telling you that it's outside his remit to sort this out - this is very basic stuff. I suggest you withhold payment until he fixes it.

Hope it works out for you.

Best, a.

PS

complete non technical person

add a AddDefaultCharset statement with the right character set in the <VirtualDirectory> section of the httpd.conf

:)

[oneguy]

He said I had to change them all back myself in the content system -- which is going to take me forever as this site is 658 pages of full text (should I be doing that myself?)

I'd tell him how much I charge to fix developer errors. I'm tellin' ya... I'm expensive, and I doubt he could afford my services.

Also, he'd only have to say that to me once to insure that we don't work together again, whether he fixes things this time or not.

I sure wouldn't be changing anything back in a content system. There are surely ways to change it faster. (like the suggestion above, maybe.)

[netchicken1]

Don't pay him, he hasn't given you an acceptable product.

[lammert]

PS

complete non technical person

add a AddDefaultCharset statement with the right character set in the <VirtualDirectory> section of the httpd.conf

:)

I like your sense of humor combining these two phrases from the original poster and me, but it won't change my view of the situation. :)

First of all, lack of knowledge claimed by the OP is no reason for me not to give the solution, technical or not. She may find someone who actualy understands what I wrote and act accordingly. Telling her that it might be some problem with character sets is nice, but giving the solution is what she needs.

Second, this thread will be read by thousands, now and in the future. I am not only answering the OP with my post, but trying to serve those who suffer the same problem and are in need for a solution.

[andye]

She may find someone who actualy understands what I wrote and act accordingly.

Lammert, you're absolutely right, I was just teasing. The juxtaposition made me smile.

But hopefully her (presumably rather clueless) developer will read the useful technical advice that you and others have offered and act accordingly.

Best wishes, a.