4 ms·

On an unrelated note, I hate it that reddit (where content is not localized) defaults the interface language to that of my OS (why would I need that?), while mo

by raquo 16y ago

On an unrelated note, I hate it that reddit (where content is not localized) defaults the interface language to that of my OS (why would I need that?), while most websites of multinational corporations (where all content is localized and country-specific) make me manually select my country. Country != desired language, but both can be easily determined with comparable precision (although by different means).</rant>

loewenskind 16y ago
Web sites need to just look at what your browser says is the prefered language. Google still shows me german because I'm in a german speaking country even though my settings are english. Drives me mad.
- avar 16y ago
  A lot of users run on misconfigured operating systems. I expect that Google has done some homework on whether language-by-GeoIP makes sense for the general case. They probably don't do it just to annoy you.
  - loewenskind 16y ago
    I know they're not singling me out, but I personally think rewarding ignorant behavior (to the cost of educated behavior!) is a bad strategy. Ideally, they would have a button that says "not your language? Click here to set the language and find out why sites keep showing you the wrong one". EDIT: Actually, thinking about this more I don't think your point holds. Nearly everyone who buys a PC in a given country will buy one set up for their locale. Do you think that e.g. Germany is selling a bunch of computers configured with english as the prefered language? I seriously doubt that.
    - edanm 16y ago
      I'm in a non-English speaking country. My best guess is that all normal users buy a computer with the local language, but all technologically-minded users buy an English Windows (like me, for example). It drives me mad whenever I visit Google on a browser whose cookies I just cleared. "I personally think rewarding ignorant behavior (to the cost of educated behavior!) is a bad strategy." Totally disagree. Most users couldn't care less about why things work the way they do. They just want them to work. Google's job is to make the average users have the most seamless experience possible, a job at which they excel.
      - borisk 16y ago
        "Most users couldn't care less about why things work the way they do. They just want them to work. Google's job is to make the average users have the most seamless experience possible, a job at which they excel." OMG this is SOOO stupid. Hackers will get annoyed enough and will move to other search engines and development platforms. And after some time average users will follow. This is exactly the twisted (non)thinking coming from Microsoft these days. Lets make an OS for 80 yo grandpas. Why not remove the drive free space indication in explorer, it confuses old ladies (and the same explorer ships with Windows Server ...). How bright do you think is the future of Windows and Microsoft?
      - loewenskind 16y ago
        >Totally disagree. Most users couldn't care less about why things work the way they do. And this is exactly what should not be catered to. Especially when it's simple to show users how to fix this. By jumping through such hoops to guess what is correct they basically force everyone else to do the same thing or else appear to be less "friendly" than google. This kind of thinking is exactly what got us the HTML/CSS misery we have today.
    - avar 16y ago
      Do you have some statistics on that? Google probably does, and that probably factored into their decision to not trust use the Accept-Language header as their sole mechanism for deciding what language to serve content in. Most computers with Windows sold in large markets like Germany probably send the right Accept-Language headers, but there's a lot of localities where this isn't the case. Small countries like Iceland just use the stock English version of Windows, then there's stuff like mobile devices which may not send Accept-Language at all to think about.
  - ugh 16y ago
    Or rather they do it even though you are annoyed by it because in general they minimize the number of annoyed people.
- raquo 16y ago
  The problem with Reddit is that it does not localize content, only the interface. It should be either both or none. Google, on the other hand, not only shows you German interface, but also significantly adjusts search results depending on your chosen language.
  - jedberg 16y ago
    > The problem with Reddit is that it does not localize content, only the interface. It should be either both or none. That's not true. It has localized interfaces and content. The non-english content just isn't very popular.
jedberg 16y ago
Your browser is mis-configured. reddit gives you the language that your browser says you prefer.
- raquo 16y ago
  Does not seem to be the case. I have Russian Win XP at work and English OS X at home. Both are running Opera in which 1) preferred language is set to English and 2) navigator.language = "en". Yet at work reddit's interface defaults to Russian and at home - to English, following OS preference. Just cleared all cookies and checked all this again. But that's not the point. The point is that there's no sense in localizing interface when content is not localized. I'm going mad seeing pages in mixed languages for no reason. // Sorry for starting this off-topic discussion, today's not my best day by any measure.

by raquo 16y ago

loewenskind 16y ago

Web sites need to just look at what your browser says is the prefered language. Google still shows me german because I'm in a german speaking country even though my settings are english. Drives me mad.

avar 16y ago
A lot of users run on misconfigured operating systems. I expect that Google has done some homework on whether language-by-GeoIP makes sense for the general case. They probably don't do it just to annoy you.
- loewenskind 16y ago
  I know they're not singling me out, but I personally think rewarding ignorant behavior (to the cost of educated behavior!) is a bad strategy. Ideally, they would have a button that says "not your language? Click here to set the language and find out why sites keep showing you the wrong one". EDIT: Actually, thinking about this more I don't think your point holds. Nearly everyone who buys a PC in a given country will buy one set up for their locale. Do you think that e.g. Germany is selling a bunch of computers configured with english as the prefered language? I seriously doubt that.
  - edanm 16y ago
    I'm in a non-English speaking country. My best guess is that all normal users buy a computer with the local language, but all technologically-minded users buy an English Windows (like me, for example). It drives me mad whenever I visit Google on a browser whose cookies I just cleared. "I personally think rewarding ignorant behavior (to the cost of educated behavior!) is a bad strategy." Totally disagree. Most users couldn't care less about why things work the way they do. They just want them to work. Google's job is to make the average users have the most seamless experience possible, a job at which they excel.
    - borisk 16y ago
      "Most users couldn't care less about why things work the way they do. They just want them to work. Google's job is to make the average users have the most seamless experience possible, a job at which they excel." OMG this is SOOO stupid. Hackers will get annoyed enough and will move to other search engines and development platforms. And after some time average users will follow. This is exactly the twisted (non)thinking coming from Microsoft these days. Lets make an OS for 80 yo grandpas. Why not remove the drive free space indication in explorer, it confuses old ladies (and the same explorer ships with Windows Server ...). How bright do you think is the future of Windows and Microsoft?
    - loewenskind 16y ago
      >Totally disagree. Most users couldn't care less about why things work the way they do. And this is exactly what should not be catered to. Especially when it's simple to show users how to fix this. By jumping through such hoops to guess what is correct they basically force everyone else to do the same thing or else appear to be less "friendly" than google. This kind of thinking is exactly what got us the HTML/CSS misery we have today.
  - avar 16y ago
    Do you have some statistics on that? Google probably does, and that probably factored into their decision to not trust use the Accept-Language header as their sole mechanism for deciding what language to serve content in. Most computers with Windows sold in large markets like Germany probably send the right Accept-Language headers, but there's a lot of localities where this isn't the case. Small countries like Iceland just use the stock English version of Windows, then there's stuff like mobile devices which may not send Accept-Language at all to think about.
- ugh 16y ago
  Or rather they do it even though you are annoyed by it because in general they minimize the number of annoyed people.
raquo 16y ago
The problem with Reddit is that it does not localize content, only the interface. It should be either both or none. Google, on the other hand, not only shows you German interface, but also significantly adjusts search results depending on your chosen language.
- jedberg 16y ago
  > The problem with Reddit is that it does not localize content, only the interface. It should be either both or none. That's not true. It has localized interfaces and content. The non-english content just isn't very popular.

jedberg 16y ago

Your browser is mis-configured. reddit gives you the language that your browser says you prefer.

raquo 16y ago
Does not seem to be the case. I have Russian Win XP at work and English OS X at home. Both are running Opera in which 1) preferred language is set to English and 2) navigator.language = "en". Yet at work reddit's interface defaults to Russian and at home - to English, following OS preference. Just cleared all cookies and checked all this again. But that's not the point. The point is that there's no sense in localizing interface when content is not localized. I'm going mad seeing pages in mixed languages for no reason. // Sorry for starting this off-topic discussion, today's not my best day by any measure.