On Sat, Oct 11, 2003 at 08:28:51PM +0200, Geert Stappers wrote: > > > If debian is rebranded and possible localized, it makes sense for them to > > > reorder those. In that case the package could support this. But it is no > > > requirement for the stock distribution. > > > > So, in the event of the debian-installer being available fully-translated > > > > in the following languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese > > > > and Japanese, the order would be: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, > > > > German, French. > > > It is a good idea to list for the installer only the languages which > > > are available. In that case they fix on one screen. > > > Personally I hate it if lists are not sorted in an easy to scan way. > > > Ordering items in a most-preferred way only works if it is a short list of > > > items, separated by the rest (which needs to be sorted alphabetically) > > Please do not forget default "C" environment is (basically) English. > > Others are all optional feature. > > > And this will not increase the combined "scan time" from all users, because > > > you can much easier go down a list of entries where you know you can skip > > > hundreds (by first letter) compared to a list which you have to go down and > > > match entry by entry. > > Realistic solution of situation shall be follows: > > > > 1. The list order shall be easily configurable to address localized > > distribution with following type of information. > > * Priority order list > > * Local limitation list > > 2. Debian (official) should ship language chooser with: > > * Priority order list: C > > List C (en_US) as top and the rest alphabetically listed > > * Local limitation list: none > > All available locale listed. > > 3. Localized Debian distribution may choose as follows: > > ASIA: > > * Priority order list: C, zh_CN, zh_TW > > * Local limitation list: C, zh_CN, zh_TW, ko_KR, ja_JP, fr_FR > > > > AMERICA: > > * Priority order list: C, en_US, fr_FR, es_MX, pt_BR > > * Local limitation list: none > > ... > > > > Just a thoughts... (... what's with French as spoken in France showing up on all the lists? And ahead of both Portuguese and Spanish? :) > And here an other (crazy????) idea: > Sort the lang. list on international telephone country code. > People do known their country code, that makes skipping easier. All of these suggestions are terribly amusing to me, familiar as I am with Americans. I don't mean to suggest that the list should be dumbed down solely on their account, but most of them think their national TLD is ".com", and have no idea what their international telephone code is (or even, for that matter, how to dial internationally). They are likely to figure out 'en' or 'us', though. Would using the ISO language codes really make it that awkward for users? I think the problem with any of these proposed sorting schemes is usually not that the user won't know what his language is filed under, but won't know what the *rest* of the languages he doesn't read are filed under. Perhaps explicitly indicating the corresponding locale (or at least the 2-digit language code) to the left of the description would provide the needed hint? -- Steve Langasek postmodern programmer
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