>>A better solution than a universal simple symbol is to establish >>a system whereby all website developers must support all written >>languages and all browsers must behave consistently before we can >>get things right? I mean this with all due respect, but that's an >>exceptionally naive solution. The common wisdom "Perfect is the enemy >>of good" comes to mind. Worst than impossibly naive, this "correct" >>solution is prohibitively expensive, needlessly complex, hostile >>to developers, and puts the burden on users when it breaks. In other >>words, this correct solution is in fact not. > > But you misunderstand. Honoring a language preference need not imply > support for every possible language. If the specified preference is > available, use it. If it isn't, use the default. (An error message might > be optional.) That's how most other things work. > > The "simple symbol" is anything but. There is no standard for > resolution, color, position, aspect ratio, perspective, alternate text > (for the visually impaired), or other characteristics. Thus there is > no reliable way to identify the symbol on a page.
Colour? What is the standard colour for using a word when offering language selection? Most of those objections are just as relevant when using a word. So you arrive at a mandarin (substitute for a language completely foreign to you). How do you find the word to change languages? I'd have no chance. There is a reason most international airports use icons/pictograms for many things; its been proven over and over again that more people understand them. Now, I don't like gratuitous changes either (and many programs are guilty of these), but I certainly wouldn't want to use my phone, laptop, or airport without icons and have only text. I wouldn't want to use the icons designed 20 years ago either, without updates. Hopefully one day we'll have real standards (ISO 7001?), but until we all eventually mostly agree, its going to be a fluid space. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
