[thelist] Language Detection vrs. Splash Screen

[kent]

Hopefully I'm not repeating a thread here but surprisingly I couldn't find 
anything comprehensive about this issue: Languages. 

A client wants to serve up both an English and French version of a website. 
We do not want to default to English with the thinking that this might 
"offend" our French audience, for lack of a better word. So we have two 
options: 

1. A splash page with language choice/selection.
2. Utilize a script to detect the default langauge set on the user's 
browser. 

So, I am wondering how effective it is to rely on detection of the language 
setting of the user's browser. I have noticed that none of the big websites 
(IBM nor al.) give me a French page when I change the language option in my 
browser. Does anyone know why this language detection is not utilized more 
often? 

As for a splash page, I tend to dislike adding this extra step for entering 
a site. But in order to deal with this language issue, is this the 
recommended course of action? I need the site to be search engine- friendly, 
which is another reason why I want to avoid a splash page. 

If anyone would reply to directly to me, I can post a summary. 

Thanks, 

Kent