It appears I normally use 'utf8_unicode_ci'. However, I don't know if that is the best collation to use. I searched Magento StackExchange and was suprised I didn't see a question/answer on this topic, so thought I would post this to see if there is a consensus view on this question.
-
1Convention in Magento is to use UTF-8 everywhere (page presentation, data gathering and storage). With 1.1 million code points, you have enough glyphs available to support all languages on the planet. Code pages and highly limited language support needs to die. – Fiasco Labs Apr 19 '15 at 16:45
Either utf8_unicode_ci or utf8_general_ci will work.
For explanations as to the differences between the two, consult
What's the difference between utf8_general_ci and utf8_unicode_ci
to find which will give you better results.
answered Apr 19 '15 at 21:03
In Magento\Framework\DB\Ddl\Table you can find some hardcoded database options stored in the $_options variable:
protected $_options = ['type' => 'INNODB', 'charset' => 'utf8', 'collate' => 'utf8_general_ci'];
However, as Fiasco Labs' answer point out you can use utf8_unicode_ci as well.
