Re: [Rainbowportal-devel] Multi-Lingual Portals

[Cory I. <cis...@ya...>]

Content that is localized!  That would be awesome.  Perhaps at the same =
time it can be versioned. =20


Cory Isakson

  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Jeremy Esland=20
  To: rai...@li...=20
  Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2003 9:45 AM
  Subject: [Rainbowportal-devel] Multi-Lingual Portals


  Multi-Lingual Portals

  This is one of the main reasons I came to Rainbow in the first place, =
but I find it strange that outside of Manu's fantastic globalized =
controls, there seems to be little effort to progress towards the goal. =
What we have now is a good scheme for "translating" the UI of a portal, =
although we perhaps need some changes to the system for distributing =
translations (which I know is being discussed). But so far we have no =
specific features within the content side of Rainbow for handling =
multiple-language versions of a portal. I firmly believe that if we can =
get this area right by v2 Release then will have a world-beating product =
on our hands. Every commercial product that has any pretensions in this =
area is automatically tagged with a 5- or 6-figure price tag.

  =20

  I have nearly finished a Language Switching module. It behaves like =
the SignIn module, in that you can opt to place it automatically on the =
home page or on every page. It is configurable to display a drop-down =
list of languages offered (from a PortalSettings CustomSetting string =
like "en;de;pt;fr;") or a datalist of composed of <national flag =
image><language name> rows. There are a number of settings in the =
PortalSettings area that affect how the portal handles language =
switching. The principal "trick" is that the PortalSettings class =
maintains three separate settings: PortalUILanguage, =
PortalContentLanguage and PortalDataFormattingCulture. This may seem =
pedantic, and in most cases all three would be set to the same, but I =
can think of plenty of scenarios where it is useful to be able to set =
them separately. For example, you could offer a portal in English and =
French (the two possible values for PortalContentLanguage) and still =
allow the UI to display in the first-matched "Browser Language Accept" =
value that comes with the page request. Separating the =
PortalDataFormattingCulture also grants you discretionary control over =
the display of date formats, currencies, etc. - allowing you to tie them =
to the user's setting (by assuming the first specific culture in their =
Accept list), or confine it to the culture applicable to the portal's =
"home country". This is particularly relevant to the "Euro problem" =
(very few users have their PCs properly configured for this) and data =
formats (where Europeans are consistently confused by the US habit =
showing day and month the wrong way round J).

  =20

  I'm just tidying the code a bit and testing it, then I've got to =
discuss a few aspects with Manu and anyone else interested before =
submitting it to the CVS. The issue is that that it encompasses quite a =
few changes in code, and in behaviour. I believe I have structured it so =
that there is at least one permutation of settings that leaves Rainbow =
operating EXACTLY as it always has, but I need to test that thoroughly =
before I inflict it on you!

  =20

  The challenge now is to MAKE USE of this switching capability in any =
modules. So I'm "throwing down the gauntlet": who will accept the =
challenge? Now - for v1 modules, not "down-the-road" v2 modules!

  =20

  Regards

  =20

  Jes1111

  aka SchemaDreamer

  aka Jeremy