Re: Interface language vs content language

Hi.

2010/10/5 Roché Compaan <[email protected]>:
> What were the design reasons for forcing a single language (both
> interface and content) in LinguaPlone? Do you still think this is good
> idea?

We actually didn't do that in the beginning. It has cost us countless
frustration from users in various projects to realize that this was
needed.

Having multiple languages on the same page is highly confusing to
users. It's a much better default to have exactly one language per
page. You also need to make sure that all links from a page only go to
content in the same language or make the language change very clear in
the link itself.

Of course with all good defaults exceptions exist.

> Are there cases where you feel strongly that one should use the reader's
> language for the interface and the author's language for content?

Anonymous readers of your site should never see mixed content (except
maybe for small inline quotes). Editors that have been trained in the
application and have gotten to know it can be exposed to mixed
content. One simple example we have today is the side-by-side
translation edit page itself.

There's one other feature request we have gotten countless times (but
never with a project budget behind it): Make it possible for editors
to explicitly choose their UI language and force this over any other
negotiation. If you have a website editor team, these people will
sometimes have to edit content in languages they don't understand.
Like correcting a broken link or restructuring some content. These
jobs will often not be given to the translators that actually wrote
the translation in the first place. It would help these editors to
have the UI in a language they understand. Today they are forced to
work by analogue placement of UI elements.

> Has anybody done any usability tests on sites where the interface
> language and content language differ?

We haven't done any formal usability tests. It's just been
overwhelmingly clear feedback from all projects we ever did.

Hanno

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