4 ms·
Which flag should you use for the English language? Union Jack? English Flag? USA Flag? Some horrible hybrid between them? None of them is a perfect fit. As a
by NeoTar 4y ago
Which flag should you use for the English language?
Union Jack? English Flag? USA Flag? Some horrible hybrid between them?
None of them is a perfect fit. As a techie I'd say ISO codes ('en', 'en-gb', 'fr', 'de') but I'm not sure how much those are understood, and probably not so hot for non-latin scripts.
- bmm6o 4y agoAnd it's not 1-1 the other way; there are many countries with more than 1 official language. The best way IMHO is a drop-down with the language name represented in its own language (e.g. "Deutche"), with the default based on the Accept-Language header.
- alkonaut 4y agoWhat decides the accept-language header though? Where do modern browsers pick it from? The OS language?
- Liquid_Fire 4y agoAt least in Firefox, it's in the browser settings, under General > Languages > Choose your preferred language for displaying pages > Choose... This lets you specify an ordered list of whatever languages you prefer. If you haven't set it manually, usually it defaults to whatever your system language is.
- bmm6o 4y agoIt's configurable from within the browser, though it moves around a lot and has been getting hidden lately. I think default is based on the OS language, but of course that can vary between browsers and versions.
- alkonaut 4y agoThe union jack for en-GB, but I'd say the UK flag useful regardless. Even for selecting en-US! No one outside native english speaking countries really cares deeply about what way color is spelled in a web shop, and everyone recognizes the flag(s). Having a flag doesn't preclude showing "en" or "English" next to it either. But I wouldn't confuse users with full ISO codes like en-GB or en-US. Just "en" and it can be the natural en of the site location. Everyone expects en to be en-US for a US site.