When you see �
question marks, your document has not been stored in the correct encoding (should be UTF-8 in your case) or it isn't being served with the correct headers and/or meta tags.
If you want to work with special characters like è
, your html document should be saved as UTF-8 and served as UTF-8:
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
Additionally, you have to use UTF-8 for your database connections:
…("SET NAMES utf8");
…("SET CHARACTER SET utf8");
And last but not least, you have to use UTF-8 for the database itself.
As you'll notice, you're already on the correct path… you just have to "use it all" (as I described above) instead of trying one thing at a time and ignoring the rest. It's the combination that makes it work. Simpler said: if you go "UTF-8", you will have to think "UTF-8" everywhere and stick to it in your html files, your headers, your meta tags, your database connections, and the database(s). Use the same encoding everywhere and stick to it, instead of using "a bit UTF-8 here and a bit ISO-whatever there".