[WSG] Multiple Language Domains
Many thanks for the feedback guys. We wont be using a splash page but I have taken the other points on board and will look into them. The quirks mode issue, should not be there, we think the system is putting that in place for us!! Paul *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
Re: [WSG] Multiple Language Domains
On 16 Jun 2008, at 01:09, Matthew Hodgson wrote: An example of this is http://www.nissan.ch/ or http://www.sunsilk.com But as far as usability is concerned I am not sure because both of cited examples feature flash, which I suppose is not that user friendly when you take accessibility into consideration I didn't delve into either site, but as far as those landing pages are concerned, the Flash seems to really just be window dressing for a simple choice (locale/language), so as long as you have an HTML fallback (eg. via SWFObject) to allow those who don't have Flash to still make the choice, you should be okay. Also, I believe that Flash has made some advances in accessibility in recent versions (I see this as more of an accessibility issue than a usability one), so for a relatively simple choice page like that I would think it should not be too great an obstacle. Still, (X)HTML is always going to be more accessible than Flash in a head-to-head contest. And I'm no Flash expert, so I might be off-base on the accessibility improvements. -- Rick Lecoat www.sharkattack.co.uk *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
RE: [WSG] Multiple Language Domains
there's lots of things u can do to ensure that the language is correctly
identified and the right characterset it used
1. as sajan suggests, the setting locale is important. it also helps with
time/date formats
e.g. for php: setlocale(constant,location)
(see also: http://www.w3schools.com/php/func_string_setlocale.asp)
2. define the page's _primary_ language of the page content in the header
http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"; xml:lang="en" lang="en">
3. define the language inline when it changes from one language to another
within the content
4. use the uft-8 characterset and define it in the header through the doctype
http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd";>
http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"; xml:lang="en" lang="en">
5. use css to define the font to use for different languages.
(some Chinese text)
/* in the css */
[lang="zh"],
* html .zh {
font: 800 14pt/16.5pt "Li Sung", serif
}
viola!
M :)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sajan Franco [EMAIL
PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday, 14 June 2008 6:42 PM
To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org
Subject: Re: [WSG] Multiple Language Domains
Hi Paul,
one way is to ask the user to choose a Locale on the landing page such en_EN or
en_US , where en is the language chosen by the user and EN would represent the
country.
For instance in countries like Belgium and Switzerland, most of the websites
ask the user to choose their locale before proceeding so that the website can
serve content of their choice in the language they prefer.
An example of this is http://www.nissan.ch/ or http://www.sunsilk.com where the
user can chose the locale and proceed further. Since the translations are in
different directories it is search engine friendly too. So when a user choose a
locale he is taken to the respective homepage which serves the user in the
language of his preference.
But as far as usability is concerned I am not sure because both of cited
examples feature flash, which I suppose is not that user friendly when you take
accessibility into consideration.
Warm Regards
Sajan Franco
On Sat, Jun 14, 2008 at 12:39 AM, Paul McCann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]<mailto:[EMAIL
PROTECTED]>> wrote:
Hi Guys,
I am currently in the middle of building a site which has to be bi-lingual. We
have two domains for the site www.ourwales.org.uk<http://www.ourwales.org.uk>
and www.cymruni.org.uk<http://www.cymruni.org.uk>
I am looking for suggestions/help on how to handle the two domains.
Currently ourwales is the prominant/main domain and the one to which the IP
details of the site are set. We are then using an alias within apache to also
point cymruni to the same site. So you see the same site when you visit, but
have two different domains. Both these domains are advertised.
I have a few worries though, currently both domains point to the english
language version of the site, this will be changed so cymruni goes to the Welsh
language side. Although the language is the same and its possible for people to
flip between the two languages is it possible that google will see the site as
duplicate content?
Also we are having trouble getting the alias to append the lang=cy to it on
first visit. My thought was to make the ourwales domain the prominant one, and
set up a folder with a 301 redirect in it which says
cymruni.org<http://cymruni.org> has moved permanantly to
ourwales.org.uk/lang=cy<http://ourwales.org.uk/lang=cy> that way we have only
one domain indexed.
The reason for writing to this group is two fold
1, how does this affect usability and what is 'best practice' in this situation?
2, How have/would you implement a problem like this?
Ideally we want to provide the smoothest and friendliest experience to both the
user and SE whichever domain they use.
thanks
Paul
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Re: [WSG] Multiple Language Domains
Hi Paul, one way is to ask the user to choose a *Locale* on the landing page such * en_EN* or *en_US* , where en is the language chosen by the user and EN would represent the country. For instance in countries like Belgium and Switzerland, most of the websites ask the user to choose their locale before proceeding so that the website can serve content of their choice in the language they prefer. An example of this is *http://www.nissan.ch/* or *http://www.sunsilk.com*where the user can chose the locale and proceed further. Since the translations are in different directories it is search engine friendly too. So when a user choose a locale he is taken to the respective homepage which serves the user in the language of his preference. But as far as usability is concerned I am not sure because both of cited examples feature flash, which I suppose is not that user friendly when you take accessibility into consideration. Warm Regards Sajan Franco On Sat, Jun 14, 2008 at 12:39 AM, Paul McCann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Guys, > > I am currently in the middle of building a site which has to be bi-lingual. > We have two domains for the site www.ourwales.org.uk and > www.cymruni.org.uk > > I am looking for suggestions/help on how to handle the two domains. > Currently ourwales is the prominant/main domain and the one to which the IP > details of the site are set. We are then using an alias within apache to > also point cymruni to the same site. So you see the same site when you > visit, but have two different domains. Both these domains are advertised. > > I have a few worries though, currently both domains point to the english > language version of the site, this will be changed so cymruni goes to the > Welsh language side. Although the language is the same and its possible for > people to flip between the two languages is it possible that google will see > the site as duplicate content? > > Also we are having trouble getting the alias to append the lang=cy to it on > first visit. My thought was to make the ourwales domain the prominant one, > and set up a folder with a 301 redirect in it which says cymruni.org has > moved permanantly to ourwales.org.uk/lang=cy that way we have only one > domain indexed. > > The reason for writing to this group is two fold > 1, how does this affect usability and what is 'best practice' in this > situation? > 2, How have/would you implement a problem like this? > > Ideally we want to provide the smoothest and friendliest experience to both > the user and SE whichever domain they use. > > thanks > Paul > > *** > List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm > Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm > Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > *** *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
Re: [WSG] Multiple Language Domains
Paul McCann wrote: I have a few worries though, currently both domains point to the english language version of the site, this will be changed so cymruni goes to the Welsh language side. Although the language is the same and its possible for people to flip between the two languages is it possible that google will see the site as duplicate content? If there's 2 languages, surely the *language* is not the same, although the content covers the same items? AFAIK Google indexes the words and the words will be different. Also we are having trouble getting the alias to append the lang=cy to it on first visit. My thought was to make the ourwales domain the prominant one, and set up a folder with a 301 redirect in it which says cymruni.org has moved permanantly to ourwales.org.uk/lang=cy that way we have only one domain indexed. Talk to the people who run www.direct.gov.uk - they do this quite well. 2, How have/would you implement a problem like this? Umm, why would I implement a *problem*? ;-) Cheers mark *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
Re: [WSG] Multiple Language Domains
Paul McCann wrote: I am currently in the middle of building a site which has to be bi-lingual. Currently ourwales is the prominant/main domain and the one to which the IP details of the site are set. We are then using an alias within apache to also point cymruni to the same site. I have a few worries though, currently both domains point to the english language version of the site, this will be changed so cymruni goes to the Welsh language side. So then you drop the alias and make the Welsh site a separate virtual host -- no redirects needed. FWIW, -- Hassan Schroeder - [EMAIL PROTECTED] Webtuitive Design === (+1) 408-621-3445 === http://webtuitive.com dream. code. *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
[WSG] Multiple Language Domains
Hi Guys, I am currently in the middle of building a site which has to be bi-lingual. We have two domains for the site www.ourwales.org.uk and www.cymruni.org.uk I am looking for suggestions/help on how to handle the two domains. Currently ourwales is the prominant/main domain and the one to which the IP details of the site are set. We are then using an alias within apache to also point cymruni to the same site. So you see the same site when you visit, but have two different domains. Both these domains are advertised. I have a few worries though, currently both domains point to the english language version of the site, this will be changed so cymruni goes to the Welsh language side. Although the language is the same and its possible for people to flip between the two languages is it possible that google will see the site as duplicate content? Also we are having trouble getting the alias to append the lang=cy to it on first visit. My thought was to make the ourwales domain the prominant one, and set up a folder with a 301 redirect in it which says cymruni.org has moved permanantly to ourwales.org.uk/lang=cy that way we have only one domain indexed. The reason for writing to this group is two fold 1, how does this affect usability and what is 'best practice' in this situation? 2, How have/would you implement a problem like this? Ideally we want to provide the smoothest and friendliest experience to both the user and SE whichever domain they use. thanks Paul *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
