Questions tagged [internationalisation]

adapting an interface or content to the different languages, skill sets and expectancies of a globally accessible application.

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How do you sort/group a list of languages displayed in their native language? [duplicate]

I saw some discussions about internationalization and localization, and saw some examples of lists displaying languages written in that specific language. I think it is quite confusing to try and sort ...
Michael Lai's user avatar
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5 votes
4 answers
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What is the best mechanism for language and country selection?

I need my users to choose their country to use my site. The French version has a totally different setup to the English version, for example. I'm The trouble is, if I merely ask the user for their ...
Urbycoz's user avatar
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191 votes
13 answers
17k views

Language of language names in the language selector?

Imagine a site that's available in multiple languages. The language is detected automatically by looking at the IP or the browser header. But that's not bulletproof, so a few users might end up on a ...
greenforest's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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Placeholders for format in address form

I am creating an address form and want to add placeholders to the fields to display the format of what the user needs to enter. For email addresses, phone numbers and credit card details this is ...
iboothcreate's user avatar
16 votes
4 answers
75k views

How many characters should typical address fields allow on an international website?

On an HTML form, What is the maximum amount of characters that should be allowed for: Street Address 1 Street Address 2 Town/Suburb State/Province (I would have drop downs for main countries, but I ...
fakeguybrushthreepwood's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
153 views

Language in url

For language support in a website's url, which oen can be better and cuter? http://en.example.com or http://example.com/en/ Which one is better in SEO? Which one is better in regards to user ...
Mohammad Efazati's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
702 views

Grouping best practices for list with international data

I have a grouped list of items sorted alphabetically. Groups are created from the first character of each item title. All characters that not belongs to any alphabet are grouped into a unique group (...
Christopher's user avatar
8 votes
5 answers
2k views

Is a language switcher necessary on a web site's every page?

I'm working on a multilingual WordPress driven web site running the WPML plugin. WPML offers a language switcher widget which is pretty neat. However, the layout of the page I'm working on is very ...
Pekka's user avatar
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7 votes
2 answers
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Spanish UX Keywords Cheat Sheet

I expect to be working on a web application within the next several months and I'd like to "shoehorn" a Spanish language version of the site. If a large enough number of Spanish language users begin ...
JDB's user avatar
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1 vote
3 answers
272 views

What is the best way to handle missing translations?

In software that has multiple languages available, inevitably there are times where some text is not available in a particular locale. What is the best way to handle this situation? Consider: Some ...
gregmac's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
422 views

Providing multi-language descriptons

In a similar question (Multi Language Name Input), I already read about the translation-topic. In our desktop applications, we have some situations where the user needs to enter translated values for ...
Kim's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
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How to handle language preference

I have a website where I authorize user to change the language of the website thanks to a drop-down list that he can find in the top right on every page. By default, the language is set accordingly ...
alesas's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
351 views

Using a top bar to change language

I'm building a blog with posts in different languages. I'm thinking about doing it like wikipedia, which is : On the front page, show a list of languages with at least one post. If a post is ...
Manu's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
147 views

What are the standard term(s) for 'Home' (used for web site home page link) in the world's major languages? [closed]

Arbitrary selection of languages: French, German, Italian, Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Turkish, Hindu, Portuguese, Dutch. Language - Term English - Home
ted.strauss's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
344 views

Shouldn't automated translation be optional?

More and more websites use some automated translation into what they think is my language of choice, be that by relying on a browser setting (for which I'm looking for a fix) or worse by geolocation. ...
Tobias Kienzler's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
6k views

Scrollbars in right-to-left layout

I'm currently developing the Arabic version of an existing iOS app. iOS always displays scroll bars on the right. Should they be displayed on the left in RTL mode? With right-aligned content (images ...
Jilouc's user avatar
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19 votes
4 answers
37k views

Is using a comma as a number separator a cultural thing?

In the US, it's very common to add a comma for numbers of more than 3 digits (ex: 1,000 for one thousand ; 1,000,000 for one million ; etc.). In France though, we don't use this at all and commas are ...
user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
1k views

i18N and form design

I'm trying to design a web form supporting internationalization (i18n). The form will be part of a large event management software. Users login, create events (like conferences, roadshows, and so ...
simou's user avatar
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22 votes
5 answers
34k views

Where to place currency symbol when localizing and what to do with odd symbols

Is there a suggested, single location to place the currency symbol every time for any given locale? For example, always on the left with a space before the amount like this: R 10.00 $ 10.00 € 10.00 ¥...
darryn.ten's user avatar
21 votes
2 answers
1k views

Which is the best way to select a language from 400 possibilities?

We are defining a language selector for 400 languages. Given the massive number of languages compared to other websites, we applied several mechanisms to reduce the complexity of the language list. ...
Pau Giner's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
2k views

address form fields

I'm developing a website that displays information about European festivals, including their addresss. Given that different countries use different address formats, I'm wondering what is the best "one ...
Dónal's user avatar
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7 votes
4 answers
1k views

Are the flags of any countries controversial to use in a UI?

This post indicates that using flags to represent languages is probably a bad idea: http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200604/indicating_language_choice_flags_text_both_neither/ What about using ...
Kevin Burke's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
162 views

Why is the alternate-language link for this page in two languages (original and destination)?

I recently received an email newsletter with the following header: To view this message as a web page, click here. To view this message in French, click here. Pour voir ce message en français, ...
msanford's user avatar
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3 votes
3 answers
489 views

Are there any other approaches to language selection other than these?

I'm working on something for a pitch of sorts and would like to look into other approaches to the language/region problem. These are the variations I remember seeing. clickable Flags or language ...
Sinclair's user avatar
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7 votes
3 answers
6k views

Best way to display a currency picker for an ecommerce site?

I've just converted an ecommerce site to support multiple currencies rather than just one and was looking for any feedback or experience in how to display the fact that the site can now be viewed in ...
Doug McK's user avatar
  • 253
3 votes
3 answers
427 views

Redirection on language change

I am building a site that will allow the site owner to add/remove pages and blog posts in different languages. The URLs to each page or blog post looks like: http://site.com/en/path/to/some/page ...
F21's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
161 views

Is it necessary to reorganize your entire layout to suit multilingual left-to-right languages?

I'm working on a flash project right now that is necessary to support 16 languages, from english to hebrew, and etc... My dilemma right now is whether or not it is necessary to flip my whole design to ...
lislis's user avatar
  • 163
1 vote
2 answers
428 views

Multi-language usability question

We have a small tourist business (some apartments and a restaurant). On the website, we declares that we speak a number of languages, and we have also translated the site into some languages. Is the ...
GUI Junkie's user avatar
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7 votes
2 answers
2k views

In RTL locales, should mobile application animations be reversed?

In mobile applications, it's common to drill down with the new view animating in from the right. Going back results in the opposing animation (from the left). These are analogous to turning a page. ...
jhurshman's user avatar
  • 171
6 votes
3 answers
981 views

Mixing languages on a blog : cute or worst idea ever?

I want to create a blog where posts can be in various languages. In the current version, I have 209 posts total, with 29 in English and 1 in Italian (the rest is in French). I've read that Google ...
Manu's user avatar
  • 472
10 votes
4 answers
2k views

A good solution how to localize and let user choose language on HTML page

I read another question where a poster states that flags should not be used for languages since flags represent countries. In my mind I agree but in my eye this solution is the best: Do you agree ...
Niklas Rosencrantz's user avatar
1 vote
4 answers
122 views

How to make user testing incentives fair internationally

I have some usability testing that is taking place in several different countries. The overall budget for incentives is set (in £) but dividing this equally between all countries and then converting ...
KemanoThief's user avatar
18 votes
5 answers
1k views

Should apps allow the use of non-Latin names?

When you have an application with an intended international audience, you are likely to run into issues with names. The W3C has some interesting documentation on names, but I'm not sure how good it ...
JohnGB's user avatar
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32 votes
5 answers
7k views

Should I use country flags in language selection fields?

My users can create content in different languages, and I need to provide an option to choose the language when they enter new content. Right now there are only 5 languages (en, fr, de, pt, es), and ...
iHaveacomputer's user avatar
30 votes
3 answers
3k views

What UI/UX patterns do not "translate" well when localized to other languages? [closed]

I wanted to see what tips other designers with more experience designing for web applications and sites that must handle multiple language might have. I know the basics, like expect the length of ...
Chris Janssen's user avatar
18 votes
8 answers
4k views

What do you put in a country list for countries with more than one common name?

I'm from England, which means in drop-down lists I have to search for United Kingdom, then England, then Great Britain... it's generally the UK, but it does vary from site to site. What is the best ...
ZoFreX's user avatar
  • 283
10 votes
5 answers
13k views

International Phone Number Field Layout and Design

I have a form that asks for the customer's phone number number. The customers are international and not limited to the U.S. and Canada. Does anyone have any best practices on how to lay out (and label)...
JamesEggers's user avatar
  • 1,999
12 votes
1 answer
2k views

What's a good alternative to flags for depicting internationalisation as an option?

Are flags a bad idea? In various comments on How to design a multi-language website?, several designers voiced their concern for the use of flags as a symbol to represent language switching on a ...
Rahul's user avatar
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5 votes
3 answers
2k views

How to design a multi-language website ?

I have a blog where I write in French, and sometimes in English. Right now, the distinction is made with a "tag" called "In English", so that users can get the feed for, say, only the English posts. ...
Manu's user avatar
  • 472
4 votes
1 answer
648 views

Cursor position and movement in Bidi Input.

In the case of Bidi input, where both RTL and LTR types languages can be mixed together, what should be the cursor position? And what should be the movement of the cursor with Home and End buttons? ...
Gulshan's user avatar
  • 141
33 votes
4 answers
28k views

Best pattern for international address forms?

I've noticed an emerging pattern in web-based forms is to put the country field before city/state. This is contrary to how we would normally fill out an address on paper, but it allows us to have ...
Baa's user avatar
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10 votes
6 answers
4k views

Drop down menu with language choice, what should the languages language be?

I hope the title is not confusing. I am talking about the (so common) drop down menu (doesn't have to be a drop down) where you choose the language. Something like this: As you can see this gives ...
Trufa's user avatar
  • 401
4 votes
2 answers
169 views

Advise strategy for partially translated webpage

I am working on a site and some but not all of the content is being translated into French. The content that is being translated is the long description and summaries of the content items (which are ...
Damon's user avatar
  • 885
20 votes
4 answers
600 views

Middle Eastern usability considerations

I have been given a task of researching usability of Middle Eastern websites so the considerations can help shape the functional specification and wire-frame diagrams. What is noticeable from the ...
Gavin's user avatar
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