Template talk:Multi-lang

Subpages

I just noticed that this template doesn't work well on non base pages. It can't find translation pages if used on the English version of a subpage. MediaWiki Help pages, from where I took this template, restricts the the use of subpages, so it's OK for them. However, SL wiki is full of subpages, and this is a problem...

-- Alissa Sabre 19:03, 10 September 2007 (PDT)

I'll put fixing this on my todo list. -- Strife Onizuka 21:51, 10 September 2007 (PDT)

Fixed, it's not perfect but it should work. -- Strife Onizuka 18:12, 20 September 2007 (PDT)

Wow! It's working as intended now. Thank you for the fix. -- Alissa Sabre 04:07, 23 September 2007 (PDT)

Chinese

Note to all editing template: Chinese has two different scripts which are NOT mutually understandable. The terms traditional and simplified apply to the different scripts, and NOT the grammar. For more information, please see the Wikipedia article about Chinese characters

Possible need to support ISO 639-3

The two codes currently used for Chinese text aren't supported by the template code.

So you've got 4 choices:

1. Pick one variant of Chinese and stick with it, using that variant with zh
2. Bork the template to support zh-Hans & zh-Hant, and bork all future needs to use unsupported codes
3. Make the template support ISO 639-3 as well
4. Migrate everything over to ISO 639-3

--SignpostMarv Martin 08:59, 17 December 2007 (PST)

I'm in favor of the last because it solves the immediate problem with only a little code change. Extra footwork but it such is life, it's better for the server then #2 or #3. One thing I do want to do is change it so the user can specify the language of the base article and not have the template automatically assume it is English. I do not want to see a hack put in place in the template, it makes maintenance down the road more complicated. Picking a single variant of Chinese does make some sense; the fewer languages we have people authoring content in the more unique content we will have (the more languages the longer it will take to translate that content into other languages; translation time is time that could have been spent authoring original content; the down side being you may not entice some users to contribute because their language isn't served that otherwise would be).

-- Strife Onizuka 21:12, 17 December 2007 (PST)

• Multi-lingual base articles would be good for portals and User-space articles.
• Option 4 would require all current translated articles be moved to their ISO 639-3 equivalents, so its not just a simple minor code change.
  • On the other hand, ISO 639-3 supports Klingon :-p

--SignpostMarv Martin 00:12, 18 December 2007 (PST)

I meant by simple code change, that the work required on the templates would be simple, the articles are another matter. Moving all the pages would be tedious if done by hand, I would write a GM script to automate the task. Lets schedule the implementation of #4 for next week? -- Strife Onizuka 02:08, 30 December 2007 (PST)

As was pointed out to me with my recent batch edits, I hope you configure the (presumably GreaseMonkey ?) script to mark the edits as bot edits.

The other thing to take care of would be to inform all the Residents & Volunteers via the relevant translation project pages that the multi-lang template will be switching to a different system.

SignpostMarv Martin 04:32, 30 December 2007 (PST)

Will do both. I'd like to see an Egyptian (Ancient) translation, or maybe Blissymbolics. -- Strife Onizuka 11:21, 30 December 2007 (PST)

As the manual for the code generator indicates, Klingon is also supported by ISO 639-3, although it does unfortunately appear to be using Western characters :-P

SignpostMarv Martin 01:22, 31 December 2007 (PST)

I'm moving the articles first then going to push the new templates. -- Strife Onizuka

You know what? I'm not sure if LL is aware of this plan. Will need to chat with them about this. -- Strife Onizuka 06:20, 8 January 2008 (PST)

lang, xml:lang and dir attributes

Should the template make some effort to support the (X)HTML attributes that aid in the rendering of multi-lingual, bi-directional text ?

--SignpostMarv Martin 00:12, 18 December 2007 (PST)

Uhhhh... Yes? Tell me more. -- Strife Onizuka 02:01, 30 December 2007 (PST)

See the W3C spec on the subject.

SignpostMarv Martin 03:50, 31 December 2007 (PST)

I *hate* reading W3C specs. Shouldn't be too hard to implement. I'll do some experiments. -- Strife Onizuka 15:55, 1 January 2008 (PST)

Articles in need for translation

Is it possible, that the template checks if an Italien/German/French(...) subpages exists in case it's added to the English parent (i know it already does) and in case such a page is not in existance, that it automatically adds the English (and only the English) page to a category named Articles missing xxx translation with xxx beeing the language which is missing? I know the answer is yes but I'm not able to implement it so could you, dear reader, do so? ^^
I guess it would be really helpful for us linguists and be more dynamic then Mentor Linguist Scribe Translation Project#Suggested Pages to Translate.
Greetz, Zai Lynch^{(talk|contribs)} 21:17, 2 June 2008 (PDT)

My only concern with doing so is that it will pollute the category sections of a huge number of articles. I really don't want to see this done until we upgrade to MediaWiki 1.13, which adds support for the __HIDDENCAT__ magic word. What I will do in the mean time is insert a hidden link to a language specific article (that won't exist), then you can use the Special:Whatlinkshere interface instead. -- Strife Onizuka 21:38, 2 June 2008 (PDT)

TYVM =) Was such an update ever mentioned anywhere? If not, can you open a JIRA for it and/or maybe add it to the Wiki Meeting Agenda (not that it would ever happen to take place but anyway ^^). --Zai Lynch^{(talk|contribs)} 22:08, 2 June 2008 (PDT)

Hmm... I just realized that 1.12 is the latest regular release and that 1.13 is still in alpha. I'll write a jira as soon as it's officially released...

-- Zai Lynch^{(talk|contribs)} 22:09, 3 June 2008 (PDT)

It just came to my mind that, (in case the category adding or page linking version becomes deployed), the template should destinguish namespaces in the way that userpages are excluded from either cagegorizing or linking since they would clutter the category / what links here page.

-- Zai Lynch^{(talk|contribs)} 05:46, 6 June 2008 (PDT)

Feature request regarding upcoming changes in Project:Languages

In order to provide a better support for non-english speakers, articles should be allowed to be named in other languages too, to increase searchability. An In-World meeting about that came up with these ideas. Since WEB-457 isn't available (yet?) I'd like to request a slight change in the way this template here is working. Please see Project talk:I18n/native feature migration#Bridging the gap until implementation. Would that be possible? It shouldn't break anything...
Greetz, Lynch ^{(talk|contribs)} 06:28, 18 August 2008 (PDT)