Is there a preferred encoding for struts?

[Rex Norm]

I'm quite confused about encoding, and I wonder if there is a preferred encoding for Struts (1.3.10 is what I use):

The servlet spec says iso=8859-1, and I notice that many libraries to be used with Struts use utf-8.

I also notice that I'm getting some problems with jsessionId being appended to servlet urls and breakign them (cookies are enabled). I think this may be due to the encoding used. I realize that the first time, if no cookie is set, the jsessionId should be used. However, this continues to be used even with cookies turned on.

All my links are served by servlets. If I code a link as follows:

<html:link action="/landing" styleClass="${tab1TextClass}" >Welcome</html:link>

the page source is served up differently depending on the encoding:
Under content="text/html;charset=utf-8":

 
// note appended jsessionid as part of url-- this DOES NOT WORK
<a href="/landing.s2s;jsessionid=D22AA3B781638BF4A56915D25E3F9D59" class="selected">Welcome</a>

when set to content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"

// this works
<a href="/landing.s2s" class="selected">Welcome</a>

Sticking to the standard seems to make sense, but is there some advantage to utf-8??? I realize that I can accept both, but if one affects my urls, is there any advantage of doing this?

Maybe there is something else I'm missing??

_R