[EN] Editing phpBB (language) files the right way

[thomas.d]

FAQ Table Of Contents / Inhaltsverzeichnis

phpBB 3.0.x language files are encoded as "UTF-8 without BOM" (BOM = "byte-order mark"). Since php-scripts can not deal with a BOM, they will put out an error-message concerning the "header information".

German authors will encounter the UTF-8-matter especially with German "Umlauts" (i.e. Ä, Ö, or Ü). If these are entered into a php-script just by typing the character via the keyboard, and the correct encoding is not set, the script won't run.

According to the phpBB 3.0.x coding-guidelines it is illegal, to use "html-entities" instead (i.e. "Ä" for "Ä" or "ö" for "ö".

The solution here is an editor, which provides the ability to encode the php-files correctly as "UTF-8 without BOM". Such an editor is for instance "Notepad++".

In an "UTF-8 without BOM"-ready editor - if the correct encoding is set - German "Umlauts" can be typed right from the keyboard.

FAQ Table Of Contents / Inhaltsverzeichnis