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)

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)