Re: amp symbols

The vendor recommends a UTF-8 encoded file. So when I create an XML
file (before any XSLT is applied) I get just square boxes where those
math symbols and other items usually appear. I think this is why they
require the use of an entity. Does that make more sense or am I still
missing the point?

The square box means either the encoding the file is read in doesn't
contain a mapping for the byte sequence that represents the character
(maths symbol in this case), or the font doesn't contain a glyph for
the character.  In either case you will see a default fallback symbol,
which in this case is a square box, so Im guessing its not contained
in the font.

UTF-8 represents millions of characters and there is no one single
font that contains them all - you will need to use view the file using
a font that contains glyphs for the characters in the file.

cheers
andrew