David Carlisle wrote:
> 
> > But the default encoding for text/xml is ASCII:
> yes but as I say they encoding can be specified in the headers if it
> differs from that. the files served from the NAG site are ASCII (using
> numeric references for non ascii characters) so no change from the
> default is required.
> 

I didn't suggest otherwise.  I'm pointing out that your lack of XML
Prolog is causing Opera to choose utf-8.  It's a repeatable problem,
and it is solvable (except doing so will put IE 6 into quirks mode).

>
> > Without the plugin you described, IE 6 is displaying a box on your
> > link, where Opera shows a character.  Since they're both on the same
> > system, it looks to me like IE 6 is coming up ASCII and Opera is
> > coming up Unicode, and you have exactly one Unicode character on
> > that page that isn't ASCII.
> 
> various symbols are referenced by character reference, whether they
> display as the correct character or not relates to the default fonts
> used rather than parsing.
> 

But I'm looking at two browsers with the same font settings, on the
same system, with the same fonts available.  The only other explanation
for the box relates to parsing.

-Eric