SoC improve multilingual feature - Revision history

Dirk: not available for application

2010-03-04T20:49:59Z

not available for application

LWC: SoC improve multi-language feature moved to SoC improve multilingual feature: Fixed English

2009-10-31T00:26:26Z

SoC improve multi-language feature moved to SoC improve multilingual feature: Fixed English

LWC: Fixed English

2009-10-31T00:25:41Z

Fixed English

Dirk: Added categories

2009-05-08T12:55:42Z

Added categories

Dirk: Link to bug #712

2008-11-09T09:36:25Z

Link to bug #712

Dirk: Multi-language enabled blocks are available as of Geeklog 1.5.1

2008-11-09T09:34:15Z

Multi-language enabled blocks are available as of Geeklog 1.5.1

Dirk: Typo (ironically)

2008-03-30T16:52:56Z

Typo (ironically)

Dirk: link to forum discussion on how the problem for blocks could be solved

2008-03-29T13:26:50Z

link to forum discussion on how the problem for blocks could be solved

Dirk: New SoC project: Improve multi-language support

2008-03-29T13:00:46Z

New SoC project: Improve multi-language support

New page

<center>(Return to the main idea page for the [[Google Summer of Code]])</center>

== Incentive ==

While Geeklog's interface has been translated into more than 25 languages by now, actually having the site's content available in several languages was only added as an afterthought. So while multi-language support is there now and works most of the time, it is somewhat awkward to use in places.

In this project, we would like someone to look at all the problems with the current solution and see what can be done about them so that multi-language sites are easier to maintain.

== Details ==

These are the known issues with the multi-language support that we would like the student to look into:

=== Setting a Fallback Language ===

There is no concept of a "fallback language", i.e. for every piece of content there has to be a separate object in each of the supported languages. So if your site was set up to use English, German, and Spanish, you would need 3 copies of every story (one per language). You can not, say, publish a story in English only and have the English version show up automatically for the other languages.

A related problem is adding another language to the site later. For example, starting a site in English and German and only adding Spanish later. In that case, you currently have to copy all the existing content over to a Spanish version (otherwise, Spanish visitors may see a note about the article not being available to them instead of at least falling back to, say, the English version).

=== User Interface ===

Missing support in the user interface: Users have to make sure to add the proper sufffix ('_en', '_de') to objects (story, topic, ...). There's no protection against typos, for example.

Adding a dropdown to select the language for an object would be a simple solution. There may be better ways, though.

=== Blocks ===

Blocks (in the side bars) are not multi-language enabled. This is due to the different block types: Some blocks display content entered by the user, others contain navigation elements and content that is created automatically but may not need to be multi-language enabled.

=== Anonymous Visitors ===

For anonymous visitors (guests) of the site, switching the language requires a cookie to be set. Users that do not accept the cookie will not be able to switch the language. This includes bots (e.g. search engines), which won't be able to index the content in languages other than the default language. This can also lead to a mix of languages, e.g. when following a link to an article in English while the site's default language is German.

== Level of Difficulty ==

''medium to high''

We don't actually expect a lot of new code to be written for this project. This is more of a research project aimed at people who love tinkering with existing code. For compatibility reasons, there is only limited room for radical changes. The project will require a lot of testing and attention to details.

== Further reading ==

* [[Multi-Language_Support|Multi-Language Support in Geeklog]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:49, 4 March 2010
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	~~<center>(Return to the main idea page~~ for ~~the [[Google Summer of Code]])</center>~~	+	'''Note:''' We are currently looking into implementing this project outside of GSoC. Please do not apply for it.

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 == Incentive ==
-While Geeklog's interface has been translated into more than 25 languages by now, actually having the site's content available in several languages was only added as an afterthought. So while multi-language support is there now and works most of the time, it is somewhat awkward to use in places.
+While Geeklog's interface has been translated into more than 25 languages by now, actually having the site's content available in several languages was only added as an afterthought. So while multilingual support is there now and works most of the time, it is somewhat awkward to use in places.
-In this project, we would like someone to look at all the problems with the current solution and see what can be done about them so that multi-language sites are easier to maintain.
+In this project, we would like someone to look at all the problems with the current solution and see what can be done about them so that multilingual sites are easier to maintain.
 == Details ==
-These are the known issues with the multi-language support that we would like the student to look into:
+These are the known issues with the multilingual support that we would like the student to look into:
 === Setting a Fallback Language ===
@@ Line 39: / Line 39: @@
 == Further reading ==
-* [[Multi-Language_Support|Multi-Language Support in Geeklog]]
+* [[Multilingual_Support]] in Geeklog
-* Bug: [http://project.geeklog.net/tracking/view.php?id=712 Using the browser's back button can cause confusion in multi-language setups]
+* Bug: [http://project.geeklog.net/tracking/view.php?id=712 Using the browser's back button can cause confusion in multilingual setups]
 [[Category:Summer of Code]] [[Category:Development]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:55, 8 May 2009
Line 41:		Line 41:
	* [[Multi-Language_Support\|Multi-Language Support in Geeklog]]		* [[Multi-Language_Support\|Multi-Language Support in Geeklog]]
	* Bug: [http://project.geeklog.net/tracking/view.php?id=712 Using the browser's back button can cause confusion in multi-language setups]		* Bug: [http://project.geeklog.net/tracking/view.php?id=712 Using the browser's back button can cause confusion in multi-language setups]
		+
		+
		+	[[Category:Summer of Code]] [[Category:Development]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:36, 9 November 2008
Line 40:		Line 40:

	* [[Multi-Language_Support\|Multi-Language Support in Geeklog]]		* [[Multi-Language_Support\|Multi-Language Support in Geeklog]]
		+	* Bug: [http://project.geeklog.net/tracking/view.php?id=712 Using the browser's back button can cause confusion in multi-language setups]

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:26, 29 March 2008
Line 44:		Line 44:

	* [[Multi-Language_Support\|Multi-Language Support in Geeklog]]		* [[Multi-Language_Support\|Multi-Language Support in Geeklog]]
		+	* [http://www.geeklog.net/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=72208 Possible solution for the problem with blocks] (Forum discussion)

← Older revision	Revision as of 00:26, 31 October 2009
(No difference)

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 Adding a dropdown to select the language for an object would be a simple solution. There may be better ways, though.
 === Anonymous Visitors ===
@@ Line 44: / Line 40: @@
 * [[Multi-Language_Support|Multi-Language Support in Geeklog]]

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 === User Interface ===
-Missing support in the user interface: Users have to make sure to add the proper sufffix ('_en', '_de') to objects (story, topic, ...). There's no protection against typos, for example.
+Missing support in the user interface: Users have to make sure to add the proper suffix ('_en', '_de') to objects (story, topic, ...). There's no protection against typos, for example.
 Adding a dropdown to select the language for an object would be a simple solution. There may be better ways, though.