I've been force to investigate a good deal about fonts, encodings, and related subjects, of late. The most significant thing I've learned is that this is a much more complex area than I ever imagined. This investigation has caused me to wonder what the foundation of all this is. If anybody knows, I like to also know a bit about the following: What determines the actual encoding system used? That is, If I set "Edit sysconfig variables" ->Basic-Administration ->Localization ->rc_lang=en_US.UTF-8m what actually changes? What files define the encoding? What components are involved in loading these files and makeing use of them? How are application programs supposed to make use of these settings? I'm looking for the 'block-level' diagram of all this. STH -- Hatton's Law: There is only One inviolable Law