|From: Anthere anthere6@yahoo.com |Sender: wikipedia-l-admin@wikipedia.org |Reply-To: wikipedia-l@wikipedia.org |Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 17:43:42 -0800 (PST) | | |--- Tom Parmenter tompar@world.std.com wrote: |> |> The Danish Wikipedia differs from the French in |> having three language |> lists instead of one. |> |> Tom P. | |So ?!? | |Do you think we should necessarily look all the same ?
No, but I believe that one list of languages is all anyone needs.
The message said the Danish page had the same layout the French, but the French main page has only one language list and the Danish has three.
I believe that one is the right number of language lists. I believe that more than one is both confusing and uses space that could be better used for encyclopedic information.
The English main page also has three language lists, which is two too many.
I don't say this to offend or annoy. I admire the efforts that all wikipedias are making to provide information in their own languages. I believe that each wikipedia should publicize the availability of wikipedias in other languages. I believe that even the small, beginning wikipedias should get just as much publicity as the larger, more established ones.
| |I dig (or dug ?) up for you the last home page before |the first pusch (4th of february) | |Please have a look | |http://fr.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Accueil&oldid=27380 | |You will notice we had 30 languages listed at the top |and the bottom. Hopefully, that list should grow even |more. |2 lines of langages is quite different from 4 lines of |langages in terms of communication on a main page, |especially on a small screen.
I think two lists of languages is one too many. That space could be used for more information.
|The top of a page should display the biggest point for |it is the place people see first. |
But is a list of *other* languages the first thing people look for? Or is it information on how to look something up, what information is available, and so forth, in their *own* language?
|Question is : what is the *most* important message to |convey, that we are multilingual, or that we are an |encyclopedia ?
I believe the *most* important message is that we are an encyclopedia. Most people read only one language. Nobody can read 30 languages. (very few anyway). Even people who can read more than one language have a preference. I'm not the world's greatest linguist, but I can get to the train station or order a meal in four languages and read with decreasing comprehension in three of them, but I still do the most in my native language.
I think the French wikipedia is correct in not placing language lists on three sides of the main page the way we do in English. I can find my four languages on one list. I don't need three lists.
The other wikipedias are welcome to design their main pages as they like. I propose that they all follow the French model and have only one list of languages. I particularly propose that the English wikipedia, to which I am a contributor, should not have three lists of languages, but only one. (Someday, maybe, if I live long enough, I will have contributions in Norsk, Deutsch, and castellano too.)
Doors don't have three handles. I don't think having three language lists helps anyone. If I am missing some advantage of having three lists, I am sure someone will tell me.
For your attention, tusen takk, muchas gracias, danke schoen, and thank you very much.
Tom
| | |> |> I just wanted to introduce you to our new |> HomePage at |> |> http://fr.wikipedia.org/ |> | |> |It look good. |> |In fact it looks so good, that we decided to use |> the same layout on the |> |danish wiki at |> |http://da.wikipedia.org/ |> | |> |Regards |> |Christian List | |That's a great honor Christian :-) | |Cordialement � tous deux | |Anthere | |__________________________________________________ |Do you Yahoo!? |Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more |http://taxes.yahoo.com/ |_______________________________________________ |Wikipedia-l mailing list |Wikipedia-l@wikipedia.org |http://www.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikipedia-l |