The only way to ensure compatibility and connectivity now and in the future is to conform to industry standards, therefore 3B2 supports the Unicode standard. However, adoption of new standards need not be absolute for customers because of the importance of backward compatibility and other requirements.
The Unicode standard specifies the representation of text in modern software products and standards. The adoption of the Unicode standard offers many advantages including the provision of a unique encoding for every character. As a result of full Unicode compliance, 3B2 is able to offer language support for over 70 languages, including Chinese, Japanese and Korean; another reason why 3B2 can provide truly global publishing solutions. For more information see Languages
Computers store letters and other characters by assigning a number for each one. There are hundreds of different encoding systems for assigning these numbers. No single encoding contains enough characters. For example, the European Union requires several different encodings to cover all its different languages. Similarly, no single encoding was sufficient for all the letters, punctuation, and technical symbols required in English.
Legacy encoding systems also conflict with one another. For example, two encodings can use the same number for two different characters or use different numbers for the same character. Computers need to support many different encodings. However, whenever data is passed between different encodings or platforms, it has a chance of becoming corrupted.
Unicode provides a unique number for every character regardless of the platform, the program or language.
You can find out more about the Unicode standard by visiting:
The Unicode Consortium website – a non-profit organization founded to develop, extend and promote use of the Unicode standard.
See also