Topic: On making the "Other Languages" link understandable without using any English
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Hey, all:
Hey, Bowo: Another Ah-Hah moment--but not so subtle if you don't know any English at all. I have seen these flags--just in passing--on many websites, but never gave them another thought, and I suppose this is true of many people who seldom have to deal in more than one language. And this is a big part of being more accessible and usable around the world. With 10 languages on the dropdown menu, replacing them with flags would be a relatively simple, and should take no more space. A very good idea--compliments to JennyD. And let's keep going global! David Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun! |
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Hey, all:
yeah a dropdown manue sounds good at first sight but it does not solve the original problem, if the person who is browsing the site does not know the English word for LANGUAGE. So maybe at least a litte English flag next to the word language would help to show that their might be other options. Flags are more universal than language is. |
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Hey, all:
Yes, Jenny, you are correct, a symbol is needed in place of "Language", as you had pointed out in the quote Bowo included. Thanks for persisting in that. I wonder if there could be a symbol other than a flag that can be used. For example, what "English" flag would be most appropriate? Based on dominance a USA flag fits, but on absolute population a flag of India is best. Historically?--British. If a little research online of other sites were done, maybe a symbol such as a mouth speaking might be turned up. An alternative, though, skips all that and just has the international flags in a row, like the links for the various indexing (?) sites below the "Contributors..." box. This is a very good suggestion, and one which (I think, without much experience in such issues) would improve access to the site and the movement globally. The broadest access is a worthy, even essential goal, since such issues as global warming, poverty, war, overpopulation, uh--gobbleization, habitat loss, etc., etc., do not respect any bounds. Other ideas to improve global access should be developed and implemented. Jenny, if you add this into the Suggestions group I'll add my support! David Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun! |
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Please go here to list suggestions: http://wiserearth.org/group/suggestions
Perhaps multiple suggestions can be listed as solutions... It's hard to say what the right solution for this is. Some sites display the language name in its language (for ex: Español, Deutsch, 日本語). A super-condensed version of what wikipedia has, I think is appropriate: http://www.wikipedia.org/ |
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"I also wanted to mention something else. I started translating some content into German and when browsing other websites I noticed that many pages work with little flags to direct the languages. I found that a lot more helpful than the language link here because if people don't speak English they might not even know the word language or what their language name is in English.
I know that there is probably not enough space for all the different flags but it would be a lot easier. Some of the students I am trying to contact also said that their English was not good enough to browse the site so they probably did not find the language button."