[thelist] Re: Re: Language Detection vrs. Splash Screen

[Ben Gustafson]

Ken,

My knee-jerk comment about the "large and vocal group" needing to get over
itself aside, the reality is that many, if not most, visitors to a site come
in through a page other than the home page, such as from a search engine or
a link on another site. Also, most people outside the US speak more than one
language, but don't know how to or don't care to set more than one language
preference in their browser. I think a prominent language navigation control
on all pages, listing the names of the languages as they are written in the
language (i.e., Français, Português, etc.) is preferable to a convoluted
language-neutral page. (And maybe toss in a language-neutral splash page
with the language navigation, though I think most people hate splash pages.)
My somewhat uninformed guess is that this would be in compliance with laws
that govern language on web sites.

--Ben

> > > Using/not using a splash page is one thing. However, being
> > > from a bilingual country, I know that a large and vocal group 
> > > would be offended by one language being the "default" over 
> > > another. 
> > 
> > Huh? Think about that for a second. How exactly would not having a 
> > default language work? If a site was in English and French, 
> and your 
> > browser language preference was set to German, which 
> language would be 
> > displayed? Esperanto? None?
> > I think the "large and vocal group" needs to get over itself.
> 
> What I meant was that the default page would have information 
> in both languages. After thinking this over, I guess you 
> could call this a splash page. Good call.
> 
> The point was that you normally wouldn't want to offend your 
> audience or ignore policy/law. 
> 
> Maybe the "large and vocal group" needs to get over itself. 
> However, they are a reality. Maybe a person who is satisfied 
> using IE3 "needs to get over itself" and upgrade their 
> browser (if they can). However, in many cases you still want 
> them to be able to use your site - for the sale or the vote ;-)
> 
> kenbo