Hello,
When using SEO features of v. 3.4.2 the html entities apperars in the page meta fields instead of UTF 8 chars. Attached picture shows the problem. I used Polish language and Polish chars. I guess the same might happent with German Umlauts.
Is it a bug? Maybe there is a workaround (I know one of them - use one of SEO plugins - I rather want to stay with atahualpa's SEO options).
Best regards
Piotr

Upload this as functions/bfa_meta_tags.php (and rename the existing bfa_meta_tags.php to bfa_meta_tags.php-OLD or so before) and see if that works

PHP Code:

<?php

/* check to see if any of these SEO plugins is installed.
   If yes, the Bytes For All SEO options will be deactivated,
   no matter what the option "Use Bytes For All SEO options?" is set to. */

// if "All-In-One_SEO" Plugin (http://semperfiwebdesign.com) is installed
if(class_exists('All_in_One_SEO_Pack') OR

// if "WpSEO" Plugin (http://www.wpseo.de/) is installed
class_exists('wpSEO') OR

// if "HeadSpace2" Plugin (http://urbangiraffe.com/plugins/headspace2/) is installed
class_exists('HeadSpace2_Admin') OR

// if "SEO Title Tag" Plugin (http://www.netconcepts.com/seo-title-tag-plugin/) is installed
function_exists('seo_title_tag_options_page') OR

/* if "Another WordPress Meta Plugin"
   (http://wp.uberdose.com/2006/11/04/another-wordpress-meta-plugin/) is installed */
class_exists('Another_WordPress_Meta_Plugin') OR

// if "Platinum_SEO_Pack" Plugin (http://techblissonline.com/platinum-seo-pack/) is installed
class_exists('Platinum_SEO_Pack') OR

/* if "HeadMeta" Plugin is installed
   (http://dougal.gunters.org/blog/2004/06/17/my-first-wordpress-plugin-headmeta) */
function_exists('headmeta') OR

/* if "Improved Meta Description Snippets" Plugin is installed
  (http://www.microkid.net/wordpress-plugins/improved-meta-description-snippets/) */
function_exists('bas_improved_meta_descriptions') OR

// if "Head META Description" Plugin (http://guff.szub.net/head-meta-description/) is installed
function_exists('head_meta_desc') OR

// if "Robots Meta" Plugin (http://yoast.com/wordpress/robots-meta/) is installed
class_exists('RobotsMeta_Admin') OR

// if "Quick META Keywords" Plugin (http://www.quickonlinetips.com/) is installed
function_exists('quickkeywords') OR

// if "Add Your Own Headers" Plugin (http://wp.uberdose.com/2007/03/30/add-your-own-headers/) is installed
class_exists('Add_Your_Own_Headers') OR

// if "SEO_Wordpress" Plugin (http://www.utheguru.com/seo_wordpress-wordpress-seo-plugin) is installed
function_exists('SEO_wordpress') OR

// if the option "Use Bytes For All SEO options?" is set to "No"
$bfa_ata['use_bfa_seo'] == "No")

{
?>
<title><?php wp_title('&laquo;', true, 'right'); ?><?php bloginfo('name'); ?></title>
<?php
} else { ?><title><?php

if ( is_home() ) {

    bloginfo('name');

} else {

    if ( is_single() OR is_page() ) {
        // post and page titles get their own filter from WP
        $bfa_meta_title = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'bfa_ata_meta_title', true);
        if ( $bfa_meta_title != '' ) {
            #$bfa_ata_page_title = $bfa_meta_title; 
            $bfa_ata_page_title = htmlentities($bfa_meta_title,ENT_QUOTES,'UTF-8');
        } else {
            $bfa_ata_page_title = htmlentities(single_post_title('', false),ENT_QUOTES,'UTF-8');
        }
        
    } elseif ( is_category() ) {
        // cat titles don't get a filter, so htmlentities is required
        $bfa_ata_page_title = htmlentities(single_cat_title('', false),ENT_QUOTES,'UTF-8');

    } elseif ( function_exists('is_tag') AND is_tag() ) {
        // tag titles get their own filter from WP
        $bfa_ata_page_title = htmlentities(single_tag_title('', false),ENT_QUOTES,'UTF-8');

    } elseif ( is_search() ) {
        // no WP filter, htmlentities required
        $bfa_ata_page_title = htmlentities(wp_specialchars($s),ENT_QUOTES,'UTF-8');

    } elseif ( is_day() ) {
        $bfa_ata_page_title = htmlentities(get_the_time(__('l, F jS, Y','atahualpa')),ENT_QUOTES,'UTF-8');

    } elseif ( is_month() ) {
        $bfa_ata_page_title = htmlentities(get_the_time(__('F Y','atahualpa')),ENT_QUOTES,'UTF-8');

    } elseif ( is_year() ) {
        $bfa_ata_page_title = htmlentities(get_the_time('Y'),ENT_QUOTES,'UTF-8');
    }
#    elseif ( is_author() ) { 
#        $bfa_ata_page_title = htmlentities(the_author(),ENT_QUOTES); }   // this won't work

    elseif ( is_404() ) { 
        $bfa_ata_page_title = __('404 - Page not found','atahualpa');

    } else {
        $bfa_ata_page_title = htmlentities(wp_title('', false),ENT_QUOTES,'UTF-8');

    }

    switch ( $bfa_ata['title_separator_code'] ) {
        case 1: $bfa_ata_title_separator = " « "; break;
        case 2: $bfa_ata_title_separator = " » "; break;
        case 3: $bfa_ata_title_separator = " : "; break;
        case 4: $bfa_ata_title_separator = ": "; break;
        case 5: $bfa_ata_title_separator = " > "; break;
        case 6: $bfa_ata_title_separator = " < "; break;
        case 7: $bfa_ata_title_separator = " - "; break;
        case 8: $bfa_ata_title_separator = " ‹ "; break;
        case 9: $bfa_ata_title_separator = " › "; break;
        case 10: $bfa_ata_title_separator = " • "; break;
        case 11: $bfa_ata_title_separator = " · "; break;
        case 12: $bfa_ata_title_separator = " — "; break;
        case 13: $bfa_ata_title_separator = " | "; 
    }

    /* 3 different styles for meta title tag: (1) Blog Title - Page Title,
       (2) Page Title - Blog Title, (3) Page Title */

    if ( $bfa_ata['add_blogtitle'] == "Blog Title - Page Title" ) {
         bloginfo('name'); echo $bfa_ata_title_separator . $bfa_ata_page_title;

    } elseif ( $bfa_ata['add_blogtitle'] == "Page Title - Blog Title" ) {
         echo $bfa_ata_page_title . $bfa_ata_title_separator; bloginfo('name');

    } elseif ( $bfa_ata['add_blogtitle'] == "Page Title" ) {
       echo $bfa_ata_page_title;

    }

}

?></title>
<?php 

// META DESCRIPTION & KEYWORDS for (only) the HOMEPAGE.
if ( function_exists('is_front_page') ? is_front_page() : is_home() ) {
#if ( is_home() ) {
     if ( trim($bfa_ata['homepage_meta_description'] ) != "" ) {
        echo "<meta name=\"description\" content=\"" .
        htmlentities($bfa_ata['homepage_meta_description'],ENT_QUOTES,'UTF-8') . "\" />\n";
    }
    if ( trim($bfa_ata['homepage_meta_keywords'] ) != "" ) {
        echo "<meta name=\"keywords\" content=\"" .
        htmlentities($bfa_ata['homepage_meta_keywords'],ENT_QUOTES,'UTF-8') . "\" />\n";
    }
}

// META DESCRIPTION & KEYWORDS Tag for single post pages and static pages:
if ( is_single() OR is_page() ) {
    $bfa_meta_description = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'bfa_ata_meta_description', true);
    $bfa_meta_keywords = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'bfa_ata_meta_keywords', true);
    if ( $bfa_meta_description != '' ) {
        echo "<meta name=\"description\" content=\"" .
        htmlentities($bfa_meta_description,ENT_QUOTES,'UTF-8') . "\" />\n";
    }
    if ( $bfa_meta_keywords != '' ) {
        echo "<meta name=\"keywords\" content=\"" .
        htmlentities($bfa_meta_keywords,ENT_QUOTES,'UTF-8') . "\" />\n";
    }  
}

// META DESCRIPTION Tag for CATEGORY PAGES, if a category description exists:
if ( is_category() AND strip_tags(trim(category_description())) != "" ) {
    /* the category description gets its own ASCII code filter from WP,
       but <p> ... </p> tags will be included by WP, so we remove them here: */
    echo "<meta name=\"description\" content=\"" .
    htmlentities(strip_tags(trim(category_description())),ENT_QUOTES,'UTF-8') . "\" />\n";
}


/* prevent duplicate content by making archive pages noindex:
   If it's a date, category or tag page: */
if ( ($bfa_ata['archive_noindex'] == "Yes" AND is_date()) OR 
($bfa_ata['cat_noindex'] == "Yes" AND is_category()) OR 
($bfa_ata['tag_noindex'] == "Yes" AND is_tag()) ) {
    echo '<meta name="robots" content="noindex, follow" />'."\n";
}
}


?>

Hello,

It is almost OK - the letter "ó" is translated to ó.

I tried other solution - I removed "htmlentities" function call and just put raw strings as below. Is it OK or not?
regards
Piotr

[...]

// META DESCRIPTION & KEYWORDS for (only) the HOMEPAGE.
if ( function_exists('is_front_page') ? is_front_page() : is_home() ) {
#if ( is_home() ) {
if ( trim($bfa_ata['homepage_meta_description'] ) != "" ) {
echo "<meta name=\"description\" content=\"" .
# htmlentities($bfa_ata['homepage_meta_description'],ENT_QUOTES) . "\" />\n";
$bfa_ata['homepage_meta_description'] . "\" />\n";
}
if ( trim($bfa_ata['homepage_meta_keywords'] ) != "" ) {
echo "<meta name=\"keywords\" content=\"" .
# htmlentities($bfa_ata['homepage_meta_keywords'],ENT_QUOTES) . "\" />\n";
$bfa_ata['homepage_meta_keywords'] . "\" />\n";
}
}

// META DESCRIPTION & KEYWORDS Tag for single post pages and static pages:
if ( is_single() OR is_page() ) {
$bfa_meta_description = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'bfa_ata_meta_description', true);
$bfa_meta_keywords = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'bfa_ata_meta_keywords', true);
if ( $bfa_meta_description != '' ) {
echo "<meta name=\"description\" content=\"" .
# htmlentities($bfa_meta_description,ENT_QUOTES) . "\" />\n";
$bfa_meta_description . "\" />\n";
}
if ( $bfa_meta_keywords != '' ) {
echo "<meta name=\"keywords\" content=\"" .
# htmlentities($bfa_meta_keywords,ENT_QUOTES) . "\" />\n";
$bfa_meta_keywords . "\" />\n";
}
}

// META DESCRIPTION Tag for CATEGORY PAGES, if a category description exists:
if ( is_category() AND strip_tags(trim(category_description())) != "" ) {
/* the category description gets its own ASCII code filter from WP,
but <p> ... </p> tags will be included by WP, so we remove them here: */
echo "<meta name=\"description\" content=\"" .
strip_tags(trim(category_description())) . "\" />\n";
}

What letters did not work after the change suggested by me, and does it work now with your version?

There is only one letter translated to entity (both in upper and lower case) as follows:
"ó" -> &oacute;
"Ó" -> &Oacute;
Best regards
Piotr

I have a same char-set problem,
new php file is work but (ü) is already (&uuml How can i solve this problem
thank you