Changing character encoding may not be necessary until one day you try to access your WordPress or even your blog and you are met with some funny looking and obviously unfamiliar characters like “Â â €™ ¢”. It is just some character encoding problems. It is no big issue as this can easily be solved by using the phpMyAdmin tool in cPanel.

How to change the collation of your database

You can change the collation of your database to utf8_general_ci which is the the most commonly used collation.

1. Log into your cPanel.
2. Under the Database section, click on phpMyAdmin.
3. You will be redirected to a new page and a list of your database will be displayed on the left side of the page. Click on the database you wish to modify.
4. Click on Operations in the top right corner of the task bar.
5. Under Collations, click on utf8_general_ci or any other collation you wish to change your database to.
6. To modify a database table, click the “+” icon beside the database under which the table is.
7. Click on the database table you wish to modify.
8. On the top right corner of the task bar on your screen, click on Operations.
9. Under Table Options, in the Collations box, click on utf8_general_ci or any other collation you wish to change your database to.
10. Then click on Go. You can now go through your WordPress and the characters will be gone.

When this is done, all tables created after this change has been made will be created in the new collation. However, the already existing tables will remain in their original encoding. If you wish to change the encoding for a specific table:

1. Go back and click on the table you wish to change.
2. Click on Operations located in the task bar.
3. Then select the collation you wish to change to under the Collations box. The collation for that specific table will then be changed without affecting tables that will be created afterwards.

There, you have been able to change the collation of your database and you can enjoy working on your blog or WordPress.