Обсуждение: better handling of alternate languages in wiki

Hi,

So, with help from Stefan and the great guys at #wikimedia we now have
the neat-looking links to FAQs in other languages, in the english FAQ
and also in each translated FAQ.  And it's updated automatically
whenever someone adds another translation as a subpage (so wiki/FAQ/fr
for the french translation, for example).

Therefore I propose we use the Mediawiki multilanguage stuff for
handling content in languages other than english.  This is very easy --
we just need to add {{Languages}} to the top of each translated page,
and put them in a subpage.  So for example the spanish initial page
should be wiki/Main_Page/es (in fact I already did that, and now
wiki/Español is a redirect to that one).

So, for a start this means that the main page needs to have a
{{Languages}} inserted at the top; and the "Alternate Languages"
subsection should probably be removed.

Can I get some opinions on this?

-- 
Alvaro Herrera                                http://www.CommandPrompt.com/
The PostgreSQL Company - Command Prompt, Inc.

Hi,

Alvaro Herrera a écrit :
> [...]
> So, with help from Stefan and the great guys at #wikimedia we now have
> the neat-looking links to FAQs in other languages, in the english FAQ
> and also in each translated FAQ.  And it's updated automatically
> whenever someone adds another translation as a subpage (so wiki/FAQ/fr
> for the french translation, for example).
> 

I find this really interesting.

> Therefore I propose we use the Mediawiki multilanguage stuff for
> handling content in languages other than english.  This is very easy --
> we just need to add {{Languages}} to the top of each translated page,
> and put them in a subpage.  So for example the spanish initial page
> should be wiki/Main_Page/es (in fact I already did that, and now
> wiki/Español is a redirect to that one).
> 
> So, for a start this means that the main page needs to have a
> {{Languages}} inserted at the top;

I would prefer to see a box on the left, as wikipedia does.

> and the "Alternate Languages"
> subsection should probably be removed.
> 

No. For example, in the french section, there are articles available
only in French. I don't want to lose them. Where will I put them if the
"alternate languages" subsection disappears?


-- 
Guillaume.http://www.postgresqlfr.orghttp://dalibo.com

On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 12:25 AM, Alvaro Herrera
<alvherre@commandprompt.com> wrote:

> So, for a start this means that the main page needs to have a
> {{Languages}} inserted at the top; and the "Alternate Languages"
> subsection should probably be removed.
>
> Can I get some opinions on this?

As I see it the major issue with that idea (which I don't object to in
principle) is that those sections not only contain content that is
only available in that language, but also content that is only
relevant in that language - eg. links to other resources. Those issues
should be relatively easy to overcome, but will need some coordination
rather than simply swapping out the links on the front page.

-- 
Dave Page
EnterpriseDB UK:   http://www.enterprisedb.com

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Guillaume Lelarge a écrit :
> Hi,
> 
> Alvaro Herrera a écrit :
>> [...]
>> So, with help from Stefan and the great guys at #wikimedia we now have
>> the neat-looking links to FAQs in other languages, in the english FAQ
>> and also in each translated FAQ.  And it's updated automatically
>> whenever someone adds another translation as a subpage (so wiki/FAQ/fr
>> for the french translation, for example).
>>
> 
> I find this really interesting.
> 
>> Therefore I propose we use the Mediawiki multilanguage stuff for
>> handling content in languages other than english.  This is very easy --
>> we just need to add {{Languages}} to the top of each translated page,
>> and put them in a subpage.  So for example the spanish initial page
>> should be wiki/Main_Page/es (in fact I already did that, and now
>> wiki/Español is a redirect to that one).
>>
>> So, for a start this means that the main page needs to have a
>> {{Languages}} inserted at the top;
> 
> I would prefer to see a box on the left, as wikipedia does.
> 
>> and the "Alternate Languages"
>> subsection should probably be removed.
>>
> 
> No. For example, in the french section, there are articles available
> only in French. I don't want to lose them. Where will I put them if the
> "alternate languages" subsection disappears?
> 

perhaps in the postgresql.fr website, and if the english version become avaible
then move it to the wiki.postgresql.org ?

I don't like see more things in french than in english in a website which is
primary english.


- --
Cédric Villemain
Administrateur de Base de Données
Cel: +33 (0)6 74 15 56 53
http://dalibo.com - http://dalibo.org
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Guillaume Lelarge wrote:

> > So, for a start this means that the main page needs to have a
> > {{Languages}} inserted at the top;
> 
> I would prefer to see a box on the left, as wikipedia does.

Well, Wikipedia has separate sites for each language (though they use
"interwiki links" for the boxes on the left).  If you see a way to make
that work, feel free to point it out.

> > and the "Alternate Languages"
> > subsection should probably be removed.
> 
> No. For example, in the french section, there are articles available
> only in French. I don't want to lose them. Where will I put them if the
> "alternate languages" subsection disappears?

I don't mean to remove the actual pages, only the subsection in the main
page that points to them; we would still have the language-specific
content in the language-specific pages.  I'm not suggesting any content
change (and certainly I'm not suggesting to dike it out to a
postgresqlfr.org page), only a presentation change.

-- 
Alvaro Herrera                                http://www.CommandPrompt.com/
PostgreSQL Replication, Consulting, Custom Development, 24x7 support