[thelist] Language Detection vrs. Splash Screen

Peter-Paul Koch gassinaumasis at hotmail.com
Mon Nov 3 12:00:14 CST 2003



>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.

3. Use my new Bilingual Pages script. 
http://www.quirksmode.org/js/bilingual.html

On the opening page, show a small text in both languages, followed by 'Read 
more' or 'Lisez plus' (I assume). The user will click on the link in the 
language of his choice. My script captures this click and sets a cookie that 
remembers the language. If you include the script on all pages in the site, 
the user will see the language of his choice, while the other one is greyed 
out and very small.

This script is still in experimental stage, usability-wise. Technically it 
works. I would welcome comments on its (lack of) usability.

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ppk, freelance web developer
Interaction, copywriting, JavaScript, integration
http://www.quirksmode.org/
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