RE: New FAQ for review: Using <select> to Link to Localized Content

Hi Addison,

Thanks for these comments. See below

> From: www-international-request@w3.org 
> [mailto:www-international-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of 
> Addison Phillips
> Sent: 06 July 2005 21:27
> To: Richard Ishida; www-international@w3.org
> Subject: RE: New FAQ for review: Using <select> to Link to 
> Localized Content
> 
> Some (personal, of course) comments follow...
> 
> 1. All in all, a very good FAQ article. Wish we had more like this.

Thanks.

> 
> 2. I don't like the following sentence, which doesn't seem to 
> convey any information germane the remainder of the article 
> and would be happier if it went away:
> 
> --
> The term "global gateway" is frequently used to refer to the 
> visual and technical devices that Web sites employ to direct 
> visitors to their content.
> --

I think I agree.  Changed marked for deletion.

> 
> 3. The following paragraph is slightly murky:
> 
> --
> The localized content pointed to may be an alternative 
> country site, a translated version of a site or page, etc. In 
> this article we avoid discussion of the best practises 
> associated with pointing to translated and/or region specific 
> sites; we look specifically at some of the pros and cons of 
> using selection lists, for whatever purpose, and best 
> practises if you think this approach is right for you. There 
> are numerous other aspects to global navigation that will be 
> described in other articles.
> --
> 
> a. It would be better to say for the second sentence "In this 
> article we avoid discussing the best way to organize the 
> information in order to concentrate on the pros and cons of 
> using selection lists to choose the content."

I added a close alternative in change marks which I'll probably accept.

> 
> b. The en-GB spelling "practises" appears here, whereas 
> "practices" is correct en-US. Is there a guideline on which 
> flavour we use :-)?

Yes, unfortunately I have to use en-US.  I had forgotten to run my spellchecker - now done.

> 
> 4. The following note should be in the background:
> 
> --
> Note that these recommendations do not apply to selection 
> lists that are part of a form. For example, if you are 
> filling in a form and selecting your country of residence or 
> language from a list the selection list should be all in the 
> language of the current page.
> --


It was originally in the background, but I moved it here because it is important to read this before getting into the answer.

> 
> 5. There should be a comma in the second sentence quoted just 
> above as well, following the phrase "from a list..."

Done.

> 
> 6. The phrase "If your site supports only a handful of 
> localizations" should probably use the less-jargonish 
> "handful of language versions". I see that we use "localized" 
> elsewhere, but 'localizations' might not convey the point as 
> effectively.

I used 'localized versions', since these may not necessarily be in different languages.

> 
> 7. There is no discussion of the 'value' attribute in the 
> options. I think it should be mentioned that the value itself 
> should be language neutral, regardless of whether you display 
> localized values in one language or many. Perhaps a mention 
> of RFC 3066 would be useful here? Recall that a select box by 
> itself does nothing; the backend has to redirect the user on 
> submit by processing the value.

Hmm. Yes. I was thinking exactly the same thoughts yesterday, but those static values are more important, I think, when dealing with selection lists in *forms* (ie. not the topic of this faq, as mentioned above).  It could be said, but I don't see it as important in this context. Do you disagree?

Cheers,
RI

> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> Addison
> 
> Addison P. Phillips
> Globalization Architect, Quest Software
> Chair, W3C Internationalization Core Working Group
> 
> Internationalization is not a feature.
> It is an architecture. 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: www-international-request@w3.org [mailto:www-international- 
> > request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Richard Ishida
> > Sent: 2005年7月6日 9:49
> > To: www-international@w3.org
> > Subject: New FAQ for review: Using <select> to Link to Localized 
> > Content
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > http://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-navigation-select
> > 
> > 
> > Comments are being sought on this article prior to final release. 
> > Please send any comments to www-international@w3.org. We expect to 
> > publish a final version in one to two weeks.
> > 
> > 
> > Description:
> > The article makes suggestions with regard to best practices 
> for using 
> > pull-down menus based on the select element to direct visitors to 
> > localized content.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > ============
> > Richard Ishida
> > W3C
> > 
> > contact info:
> > http://www.w3.org/People/Ishida/
> > 
> > W3C Internationalization:
> > http://www.w3.org/International/
> > 
> > Publication blog:
> > http://people.w3.org/rishida/blog/
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
>

Received on Thursday, 7 July 2005 16:44:09 UTC