You need set MySQL database to UTF-8 before installing Joomla.
This done via phpMyAdmin, Database Manager.
If you already Jommla and found that your database default collation is latin1_swedish_ci collation(for example), then you need alter database to utf-8 collation.
Open your Database Manager, select "SQL", this will open a text field, paste this query text into the box, click "Go".
| Code: |
ALTER DATABASE `db_name` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci;
|
Replace 'db_name' with your mysql database name.
Once it worked, it will bring you back to the same page and should confirm if all went well, something like "Your SQL-query has been executed successfully".
You need also change all fields/tables in your database to utf8 collation.
For this purpose you can run the aboved PHP script, put this script in your web directory and run from browser.
Note that you need first specify your data here:
$username = 'user';
$password = 'pass';
$database = 'table';
$host = 'localhost';
Also, comment this line, like this:
//die("Make a backup of your MySQL database then remove this line");