If I am using Notepad to write HTML - which Encoding should I use? ANSI, Unicode, Unicode big endian, or UTF-8

Question

What is the main difference between the four Encoding types?
Would there be any circumstances that I would use one over the other?
Advantages? Disadvantages of each?

I am not some teenager who is having others do my homework. I am perfectly willing to do my own research, but time is limited and I was hoping a few paragraphs would help get me started.

Thank you to everyone who gave constructive answers!

Answer 1

You should use ANSI. Are you typing in just English in the HTML file? Then that's all you need.

See, ANSI is great if the only language in the world is English. Obviously, there's more like Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, etc.. Unicodc figures out how to deal with all these languages. Then you have Unicode encodings, which takes Unicode and makes it usable on computers.

So in Notepad, Unicode stands for the encoding UTF-16 LE, Unicode big endian for UTF-16 BE, and UTF-8. Three different encodings. I would normally recommend you use UTF-8, but you shouldn't in Notepad. That's because it puts something called a Byte Order Mark (BOM). You don't need to worry about the details, but just know that this BOM causes trouble in UTF-8 documents.

I use a better text editor like vim or Notepad++ that allows me to save my documents in UTF-8 _without_ the BOM. You should too. Actually, you are using Notepad to write HTML, right? Wow, that's horrible. Notepad is a terrible text editor.

Just google for plain text editors and download something better. Here's a number of choices: Notepad++, Cream (google "Cream vim"), PsPad, UltraEdit (costs money), Aptana (actually an IDE you might find useful).

Answer 2

ANSI is the Proper Encoding to Use, The other Encodings when Viewed in a Browser Add a Space in between Characters or Add Squares instead of Line Feeds (Pressing Enter)

I do Advise though if planning on HTML Coding to get a Better Program, i Suggest Programmers Notepad 2, Including Stnax Highlighting and other Items and It opens/Saves/read Files Quicker and its more lightweight

Answer 3

Notepad Encoding

Answer 4

Use the default setting. That's what I do, and I get no errors.

Also, you might want to get "Notepad Plus Plus" (Notepad++) because it has the ability to recognize programming languages.

Answer 5

I would check out the W3C (The World Wide Web Consortium)
http://www.w3.org

You could use their validator on your site:
http://validator.w3.org/

It will tell you what the standards are if it comes across an error. Hope this helps :c)

Answer 6

In Gmail yes you can under Settings.

Answer 7

ANSI is the one you want

Answer 8

notepad uses ANSI
not going to do your homework