Re: [WAI-IG] Serving my page in the right language

It is interesting that many of the more important web sites that could
have used HTTP language accept header don't use it:

United Nation, www.un.org
European Union, http://www.europa.eu.int
Nordic Council, www.norden.org, sets cookie

The reason is obvious if you go to those web sites. The welcome page
where you most choose language makes the web site look more important
and more official.
 
The welcome page is used to make a point: this is international
cooperation, here we are all equal, and all languages lead you to
exactly the same web site.

All the above is blown into pieces if you use the HTTP language accept
header. Many users will miss a very important point: exactly the same
web site exists in more than one language.

The same is true for many national web sites in countries with more than
one official language:

Canada, http://www.canada.ca
Belgium, http://www.belgium.be, sets cookie 
Schweiz, http://www.admin.ch

It is my hunch that the above is the rule for these two categories of
web sites. There are probably other categories where use of HTTP
language accept header is the norm.

Best regards,

Jesper Tveskov
www.smackthemouse.com

Received on Saturday, 20 March 2004 10:49:42 UTC