From: Michael G Schwern
Date: 17:20 on 29 Jan 2008
Subject: Thunderbird's UTF8 warning
Thunderbird sees fit to warn me before I send something that contains UTF=
-8=20
characters. I guess something I cut & pasted into my signature file has =
some=20
of them new fangled "smart quotes" or whatever. It presents me with this=
big=20
dialog box telling me all the consequences of using Unicode or se[1]nding=
=20
Unicode in the current character set (without telling me what that charac=
ter=20
set is).
The best part is it will seem to do this randomly, not just when I hit se=
nd,=20
but while I'm editing or working in another window it sees fit to steal f=
ocus=20
and say "HEY! OMG! LOOK! Let me tell you about the DANGERS OF UTF-8!"
Then I get a choice. No question is asked, but I get a choice anyway. I=
can=20
[Cancel]... but I wasn't doing anything. [2] Does this mean it will canc=
el=20
the whole message and maybe close the window or just not send the message=
?=20
Kind of ominous. Then there's [Send Anyway] and does that mean to go ahe=
ad=20
and send it in UTF-8 which is what you were warning me about or to go ahe=
ad=20
and send it in my current apparently non-Unicode character set? And, fin=
ally,=20
there's [Send in UTF-8] which is the most sensical of them all... but sin=
ce=20
you so rudely interrupted my typing do you mean to send it right now or w=
hen=20
I'm done editing? [3]
Bestest of all is it asks me this FOR EVERY MESSAGE! There's no "always =
do=20
this". I've looked through the Composition preferences and there's nothi=
ng=20
about character encodings. I get the choice between "plain text" and lor=
d=20
knows what that means these days, and HTML. There's just a black smear o=
n the=20
spot where the "Quoted Printable" option would be for I burnt out that pa=
rt of=20
my brain which processes those words.
There appears to be no, "just do the right thing and shut up you stupid b=
lit"=20
setting. More software needs one of those.
[1] God damnit, it just did it.
[2] And again for a second compose window.
[3] For the rhetorically impaired, those are all rhetorical.
--=20
7. Not allowed to add =E2=80=9CIn accordance with the prophesy=E2=80=9D t=
o the end of
answers I give to a question an officer asks me.
-- The 213 Things Skippy Is No Longer Allowed To Do In The U.S. Army
http://skippyslist.com/list/
From: Jody Belka Date: 18:33 on 29 Jan 2008 Subject: Re: Thunderbird's UTF8 warning This /is/ all very hateful indeed actually. And don't let anything you'll read below allow you to think I believe otherwise. Not that that'd be likely. On Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 09:20:35AM -0800, Michael G Schwern wrote: > The best part is it will seem to do this randomly, not just when I hit > send, but while I'm editing or working in another window it sees fit to > steal focus and say "HEY! OMG! LOOK! Let me tell you about the DANGERS > OF UTF-8!" Hateful bit number 1. It's not actually random. It's thunderbird doing a background save into your drafts folder, and deciding that anything that would happen on an actual send needs to happen anyway. Like I said, hateful. > Then I get a choice. No question is asked, but I get a choice anyway. I > can [Cancel]... but I wasn't doing anything. [2] Does this mean it will > cancel the whole message and maybe close the window or just not send the > message? Kind of ominous. Then there's [Send Anyway] and does that mean to > go ahead and send it in UTF-8 which is what you were warning me about or to > go ahead and send it in my current apparently non-Unicode character set? > And, finally, there's [Send in UTF-8] which is the most sensical of them > all... but since you so rudely interrupted my typing do you mean to send it > right now or when I'm done editing? [3] Hateful bit number 2. Really not a very well designed gui this, no. Since it's really referencing the background draft save, i'm pretty sure that if you [Cancel], it merely cancels the saving of the draft, and nothing else. Been a while since I checked though. > Bestest of all is it asks me this FOR EVERY MESSAGE! There's no "always do > this". I've looked through the Composition preferences and there's nothing > about character encodings. I get the choice between "plain text" and lord > knows what that means these days, and HTML. There's just a black smear on > the spot where the "Quoted Printable" option would be for I burnt out that > part of my brain which processes those words. And last, but most definitely not least, hateful bit number 3. Oh, I think you'll absolutely /love/ this one. The option to control this, is of course to be found in the *Display* preferences. Why, of course it is. Where else would you fucking put it thunderbird. From there, it's into Fonts & Encodings: Fonts, where you'll find a "Character Encodings" section. J
From: Michael G Schwern Date: 20:39 on 29 Jan 2008 Subject: Re: Thunderbird's UTF8 warning Jody Belka wrote: >> Bestest of all is it asks me this FOR EVERY MESSAGE! There's no "always do >> this". I've looked through the Composition preferences and there's nothing >> about character encodings. I get the choice between "plain text" and lord >> knows what that means these days, and HTML. There's just a black smear on >> the spot where the "Quoted Printable" option would be for I burnt out that >> part of my brain which processes those words. > > And last, but most definitely not least, hateful bit number 3. Oh, I think > you'll absolutely /love/ this one. The option to control this, is > of course to be found in the *Display* preferences. Why, of course it is. > Where else would you fucking put it thunderbird. From there, it's into > Fonts & Encodings: Fonts, where you'll find a "Character Encodings" section. Why there it is, grouped with "Fonts" because someone doesn't realize that fonts are just about pretty pictures and encodings are about the actual data. Yeah, hateful. I might even be moved to write a BUG REPORT! Thank you Jody.
From: Michael G Schwern
Date: 20:41 on 29 Jan 2008
Subject: Re: Thunderbird's UTF8 warning
Michael G Schwern wrote:
> Why there it is, grouped with "Fonts" because someone doesn't realize=20
> that fonts are just about pretty pictures and encodings are about the=20
> actual data. Yeah, hateful.
But wait, I spoke too soon! There's no "just upgrade to UTF-8 as necessa=
ry"=20
setting. No, I have to pick just one encoding format and stick with it=20
whether I need it or not! Grr.
--=20
54. =E2=80=9CNapalm sticks to kids=E2=80=9D is *not* a motivational phras=
e.
-- The 213 Things Skippy Is No Longer Allowed To Do In The U.S. Army
http://skippyslist.com/list/
From: Omry Yadan Date: 19:14 on 29 Jan 2008 Subject: Re: Thunderbird's UTF8 warning As a Debian Lenny use I still use Thunderbird 1.5. let me tell you something far more hateful: Many of my emails are written in Hebrew, which by definition means I get that warning for every such email. do you know what happen if I press ESC to that dialog? The hated piece of crap decides that I surely want to send it without unicode, and the content of the email is transformed into a steaming pile of question marks! Michael G Schwern wrote: > Thunderbird sees fit to warn me before I send something that contains > UTF-8 characters. I guess something I cut & pasted into my signature > file has some of them new fangled "smart quotes" or whatever. It > presents me with this big dialog box telling me all the consequences > of using Unicode or se[1]nding Unicode in the current character set > (without telling me what that character set is). > > The best part is it will seem to do this randomly, not just when I hit > send, but while I'm editing or working in another window it sees fit > to steal focus and say "HEY! OMG! LOOK! Let me tell you about the > DANGERS OF UTF-8!" > > Then I get a choice. No question is asked, but I get a choice > anyway. I can [Cancel]... but I wasn't doing anything. [2] Does this > mean it will cancel the whole message and maybe close the window or > just not send the message? Kind of ominous. Then there's [Send > Anyway] and does that mean to go ahead and send it in UTF-8 which is > what you were warning me about or to go ahead and send it in my > current apparently non-Unicode character set? And, finally, there's > [Send in UTF-8] which is the most sensical of them all... but since > you so rudely interrupted my typing do you mean to send it right now > or when I'm done editing? [3] > > Bestest of all is it asks me this FOR EVERY MESSAGE! There's no > "always do this". I've looked through the Composition preferences and > there's nothing about character encodings. I get the choice between > "plain text" and lord knows what that means these days, and HTML. > There's just a black smear on the spot where the "Quoted Printable" > option would be for I burnt out that part of my brain which processes > those words. > > There appears to be no, "just do the right thing and shut up you > stupid blit" setting. More software needs one of those. > > > [1] God damnit, it just did it. > [2] And again for a second compose window. > [3] For the rhetorically impaired, those are all rhetorical. >
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