Re: Languages of Policy Document Links

Well, I do it something like this:

  some text in english _some_link_ ( _aussi_une_version_francaise_ )

if there are the two. You should also use the hreflang attribute (which
reminds me that I should too).

I try to make a version of the sentence in french (or whatever the relevant
language is) which has the opposite

  la meme texte en francais _le_lien_ ( _link_to_english_version_ )

In some cases the resource is language-negotiated - for example, if you have
spanish as your preferred language and you go to the page describing what
WCAG conformance logos mean you will get a spanish version. In pages like
that I like to put a direct link to the english version.

I don't think that the ISO language codes are that helpful. I prefer a word
(english) and an icon of a flag or two - I realise that english is spoken in
many countries, but people are well-used to the idea of either an english or
american flag standing for "english version". I don't think I would use an
Australian or New Zealand flag unless the text is specifically localised and
there is a more general english version - New Zealand government documents in
particular contain a high proportion of Maori words that make no sense to
people who don't speak New Zealand english, but too much detail gets
confusing. (Just think of this message as an example of that idea <grin/>)

cheers

Charles

On Thu, 22 Aug 2002, Alan Chuter wrote:

>
>I'm working on the Policy document
>(http://www.w3.org/WAI/References/Policy). One of the characteristics of the
>document is that there are links to documents in many languages. I'd like
>ideas about the best way to indicate the language before the link. Some of
>the documents are available in two languages.
>
>My idea is to use the ISO language codes
>(http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/ert/iso639.htm) in square brackets [EN][ES]. A
>list at the top of the page could explain, or the form <abbr
>title="English">EN<abbr>. Although the abbreviation form would have to be
>outside the link text (wouldn't it?). But then I don't want to have to
>repeat the title for each language version.
>
>[EN] New French Legislation, [FR] New French Legislation.
>which repeats the title
>[EN] New French Legislation, [FR] La Nouvelle Legislation Francaise.
>which looks better, but is really the same
>or
>
>[EN][FR]New Legislation in Country
>but then the link text doesn't make sense out of context
>
>thanks
>
>
>Alan Chuter
>achuter@teleservicios.com
>Fundosa Teleservicios (ONCE Foundation), Madrid, Spain
>ONCE (Spanish National Organisation of the Blind)
>

-- 
Charles McCathieNevile    http://www.w3.org/People/Charles  phone: +61 409 134 136
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Received on Thursday, 22 August 2002 07:19:30 UTC