Feature request for the Multilanguage module
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Lapinoo
Joined: 2004-05-08
Posts: 378 |
Posted: Mon, 2005-04-25 14:05
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I was happy playing with the multilanguage module, but I miss one feature that would make it a perfect fit : The only way to do this is to chose English as the default language and then to add french to the multilanguage module. That would mean I have to set titles, descriptions and so on in both languages. Does anybody else face the same problem ? What is your solution ? |
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Posts: 8601
why can't you use french as default language and add english to multilanguage module?
Posts: 378
Because in that case, if a chinese guy browses my gallery, he will see french titles. I guess there is a greater probability that he understand english better than french.
I think this module works great for those whose default language is the language understood by everyone... that is English :wink:
Posts: 314
I think the solution would be the option to "respect the browser settings" in General settings. This option would apply to both G2 strings and user strings (such as Album title, description, etc.) that are controlled by MultiLang module... IIRC it is supported in G1, but you may want to add RFE just in case.
Posts: 8601
you can provide an alternate entry point for non-french users.. gallery2/main.php?controller=core:ChangeLanguage&g2_language=en&g2_return=main.php
(and maybe use apache url rewrite to make a simpler url for this...)
Posts: 378
virshu,
I just discovered that G2 doesn't respect browser settings... I took this for granted ! :-?
So I guess I would have to fill 2 RFEs :
- Have G2 respect browser settings
- Provide a priority list for languages in the multilanguage module so that the administrator can specify which language to use when there is no data available for the browser language
Posts: 314
I am not sure I understand what this enhancement will do.
Fist, it may be helpful to clarify that multilanguage module allows you to specify additional values for album title, description, etc. There is a "default" value whether you enable multilanguage or not.
And most of UI (such as item options, for example) are controled by language selection in general settings tab
That being clear, if the language is not available from the browser the default values for the title/description will be taken (like it is now). If the user changes the language, and there are overriding values for this language - that is what is shown.
The rest of UI works similarly. When the user is coming to the site for the first time - your default language will prevail (the first enhancement will allow browser language to override this default, but that's besides the point). Then the user can change the language, say, from French to English - and that will change the UI. But how will the second enhancement improve upon that?
Maybe you can come up with a user story that will clarify it.
Posts: 378
Okay, here is a quick story :
My G2 gallery is going to be a french gallery, meaning that the default language is french for the UI and data (titles, descriptions, and so on).
This is okay for 80% of my visitors : they are french so they are happy to have everything in french.
Now comes and english user. He selects english in the language selector (or because G2 will guess which language to use because of the browser settings) and what does he sees :
- english UI
- french data (since I did not use the multilanguage module yet)
So, in order to improve things, I set up the multilanguage module and add EN_US. I can now describe data in English as well. Since I do not plan to translate everything, this is fine.
So if an english guy comes again, everything can be displayed in english.
Now a dutch guy comes to my site... What does he sees :
- dutch UI
- french data
This time I do not want to translate the data in dutch because I don't speak dutch and I don't have the time required to translate the whole data again in 5, 10 or more languages.
In fact, I would like him to see :
- dutch UI
- english data (much better than french)
As you can see, the only solution right now would be to use english as the default language so that it is used by default. What I would like is :
- UI language according to the browser settings (or chosen via the language selector).
- default data language is french, english is used for 20% of the site. French data, is displayed for FR_* users, English is displayed for EN_* users, otherwise, I would like to have english used as a first choice.
The only simple solution right now is to :
- set data in french when it does not need to be translated.
- set data in english and have french translation for data that needs to be translated.
What I don't like is that the default data language is no longer consistent.
Posts: 314
I see... I wasn't thinking of satisfying the dutch guy... just the english and french
that's possible, of course - but I am thinking how much performance penalty will it be to have "stepping stone" solution in multilang (Dutch? if not, English? if not, French) that the fallback users (Custom language? if not Default) will have to incur...
But I understand the request now. I am sure Bharat will prioritize 8)
Posts: 8601
Lapinoo, how about this?
In multilang module select French as the additional language.
For items you DO want to translate put english in the main title/summary/desc and French in the multilang tab.
For items you DON'T want to translate just put french in the main title/summary/desc.
Now:
French user sees french UI and french content (whether from main data or multilang).
English user sees english UI and main data for everything (english where available, french otherwise).
Dutch user sees dutch UI and main data for everything (english where available, french otherwise).
Posts: 378
mindless,
I already tought to this solution, but I was looking for something clean : I prefer to use the same language in the default description. I think there could be some side effects with some modules (displaying english where french is available).
In the meantime, I will add the RFE for having G2 to automatically adapt its UI to the browser's language.