3 ms·

If asked to make icons for languages, whet else would you even use instead of flags? Icons help find things faster, and the users are used to seeing flags next

If asked to make icons for languages, whet else would you even use instead of flags? Icons help find things faster, and the users are used to seeing flags next to language labels. In some cases, a single flag indeed does not sufficiently describe an option. In this case, combine, like, two flags, e.g. (flag of Spain)(flag of Columbia), or invent some other clever icon to disambiguate selection.

ReleaseCandidat 2y ago
> Icons help find things faster, [...] I _highly_ doubt that being able to input the name of the language (or country or whatever), both in its native and translated form, is slower than scrolling through all possible icons.
- cableshaft 2y ago
  Example where entering the name of the laqnguage would be slower than scrolling through options: a video game with a controller. I don't think I've ever seen that as a 'type in the language you want' option, only scrolling through options. Also it might only have 5-10 options to begin with, since localization of a video game into a bunch of languages can be pretty expensive, especially if it's a text-heavy game.
- franga2000 2y ago
  Typing the whole name takes longer and you don't always know exactly what to type, so you have to type a bit of the name, then look at the list. Flags help with the latter part. Here's a funny example of where flags are useful: People from Slovenia [SI] (natively "Slovenija") speak Slovene/Slovenian [sl], natively "Slovenščina", ajdective "slovensko". People from Slovakia [SK] (natively "Slovensko") speak Slovak [sk], natively "Slovenčina", adjective "slovensky". Opening up a language picker, I usually search for "slo" (if there even is a search bar!) and then read the options left. But since the difference can be as little as a single character, even without dyslexia and with good eyesight, I still screw it up sometimes. The flags however, even when small and/or blurry, can still be quite easily differentiated by anyone familiar with both.
  - ReleaseCandidat 2y ago
    > Typing the whole name takes longer[...] At least not for me. > The flags however, even when small and/or blurry, can still be quite easily differentiated by anyone familiar with both. Well I'm actually living in Slovakia and _always_ use the difference between "Slovenščina/Slovinčina" and "Slovenčina/Slovenčina", because the flags are way more similar for me in their usual size than the names (the two carons make Slovene stand out more than the different coats of arms (a blue dot vs. a red dot) in the flags). Of course, in Slovak the difference between Slovinčina and Slovenčina is more of a problem when just looking at the names - that's when search comes in handy for me.
darby_eight 2y ago
I think what apple landed on—i.e. the ISO 639-1 2-character language code represented as an icon—is just about as optimal as you could get. (I supposed also supporting 3-character ISO 639-2 codes would be even better.) But finding any flag to represent English alone is a nightmare.

ReleaseCandidat 2y ago

> Icons help find things faster, [...] I _highly_ doubt that being able to input the name of the language (or country or whatever), both in its native and translated form, is slower than scrolling through all possible icons.

cableshaft 2y ago
Example where entering the name of the laqnguage would be slower than scrolling through options: a video game with a controller. I don't think I've ever seen that as a 'type in the language you want' option, only scrolling through options. Also it might only have 5-10 options to begin with, since localization of a video game into a bunch of languages can be pretty expensive, especially if it's a text-heavy game.
franga2000 2y ago
Typing the whole name takes longer and you don't always know exactly what to type, so you have to type a bit of the name, then look at the list. Flags help with the latter part. Here's a funny example of where flags are useful: People from Slovenia [SI] (natively "Slovenija") speak Slovene/Slovenian [sl], natively "Slovenščina", ajdective "slovensko". People from Slovakia [SK] (natively "Slovensko") speak Slovak [sk], natively "Slovenčina", adjective "slovensky". Opening up a language picker, I usually search for "slo" (if there even is a search bar!) and then read the options left. But since the difference can be as little as a single character, even without dyslexia and with good eyesight, I still screw it up sometimes. The flags however, even when small and/or blurry, can still be quite easily differentiated by anyone familiar with both.
- ReleaseCandidat 2y ago
  > Typing the whole name takes longer[...] At least not for me. > The flags however, even when small and/or blurry, can still be quite easily differentiated by anyone familiar with both. Well I'm actually living in Slovakia and _always_ use the difference between "Slovenščina/Slovinčina" and "Slovenčina/Slovenčina", because the flags are way more similar for me in their usual size than the names (the two carons make Slovene stand out more than the different coats of arms (a blue dot vs. a red dot) in the flags). Of course, in Slovak the difference between Slovinčina and Slovenčina is more of a problem when just looking at the names - that's when search comes in handy for me.

darby_eight 2y ago

I think what apple landed on—i.e. the ISO 639-1 2-character language code represented as an icon—is just about as optimal as you could get. (I supposed also supporting 3-character ISO 639-2 codes would be even better.) But finding any flag to represent English alone is a nightmare.