Are you ready to learn about how to use Unicode?

Albert Bickford, Jim Brase and Lorna Priest, 2007-05-11

Sometimes, a conversion to Unicode is almost completely transparent to a user. They’ll be able to continue working almost the same way as they always have. However, it doesn’t always work that way. As you think through when to do a conversion, find out how much you’ll have to learn. This may include

Which fonts and keyboard to use with Unicode data.
How to type the characters you need.
If you need to code diacritics as separate characters, how to work with them in various programs.
How to distinguish two characters that look the same but behave differently (and how to train yourself to type them correctly).
How to recognize when something is wrong and what to do or who to call to fix it.
How to use new Unicode-capable software.

Most everyone can learn these things. It doesn’t take a lot of time, but it will slow you down for a couple weeks or in rare cases a few months. So, don’t do a Unicode conversion when you have pressing deadlines coming up, if you can help it. Plan ahead for a time when the conditions are right for an unhurried change-over.

Back to When to Convert to Unicode.

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