In the installation document of Comsenz’ UCenter (http://faq.comsenz.com/userguide/uchome/uc_install.html), it is said:
“在这里要说明一下：我们提供了 4 种不同的编码。包括 GBK 简体中文版(推荐)、UTF-8 简体中文版、BIG5 繁体中文版(推荐)、UTF-8 繁体中文版，请自己的需求选择相应版本的论坛程序下载。”
It means the author recommends installing the package using GBK/BIG5 encoding instead of the UTF8 one. It confuses me as I thought the UTF8 version is be more appropriate for general use. I have friends writing in both Traditional and Simplified Chinese, so UTF8 is a requirement for me. To confirm whether UTF8 version is worse than its GBK/BIG5 peers, I download all packages and diff them. The result is comforting, as the only output is of the following type:
< <option value=”0″>Flash动画</option>
< <option value=”1″>Media视频</option>
< <option value=”2″>Real视频</option>
—
> <option value=”0″>Flash動畫</option>
> <option value=”1″>Media視頻</option>
> <option value=”2″>Real視頻</option>
So if you are struggling with version choice, you can safely choose the one that fits you the best. In my case, it is the UTF8 version.
But why did the author recommend against the UTF8 version? Well, I can think of 2 reaons:
- UTF8 has characters in varied length. If you are sure you only have GBK or BIG5, then it saves you some bandwidth using GBK/BIG5 instead of UTF8.
- The author has a China-only mindset.
Well, reason 2 is further enhanced by the fact that UCenter has only Chinese documentation.