Posted by Ed Jay on 08/24/05 10:20

Mark Parnell and others wrote a bunch of stuff that I'll address in this
post:

>Previously in alt.html, Ed Jay <edMbj@aes-intl.com> said:
>
>> Your point (and Jukka's) is well taken; however, the site is actually two
>> sites in one. One is devoted to American investors and the other to
>> Japanese businesses.
>
>In your case, the use of flags is probably OK, since the site is aimed
>at people in a particular country - the language is simply a by-product
>of that.

That's my rationalization. :-)
>
>Though what happens if you have an American in Japan, or vice versa? ;-)

:-)
>
>> They are not mirrors of each other. They each contain
>> different content.
>
>I think Beauregard's suggestion of country silhouettes is a good idea.

I hadn't thought of that, and it may be a good enough idea that I'll use
it. The two flags have different aspects, which has been problematic in
achieving a graphically balanced page. I had to trim the Japanese flag to
achieve a modicum of symmetry. OTOH, the two countries are very different
in shape and size, so it may be difficult to achieve graphical balance on
the page. (Hey, I'm a Virgo and symmetry is important to me.) :-)

As far as the intellect of my clientele...well, that's why the
instruction, "Click on the flag of your choice.." is written in the text
on the page that explains the site is divided into the two areas. ;-)

Of course, one has to presume that when the American guy clicks the
Japanese flag and up comes a page written entirely in Japanese, he might
get a clue that he's in the wrong area of the site.

As to the Japanese, the text beneath the Japanese flag essentially says,
in Japanese, "To the Japanese area of the site."

But, y'know, it's said you can make something fool proof, but you can't
make it damned-fool proof. And it's a true cliché. I once referred an
American to the site only to have him complain that he couldn't read it
because it was in "some foreign language." :-)
>
>> Obviously, the American site should be in English and
>> the Japanese site in Japanese. Wouldn't you agree?
>
>Absolutely. But Jukka's point is that flags are inappropriate symbols to
>denote different languages, not that sites should only be in one
>language (actually, he has some good info on using different
>languages/character sets too IIRC).

I've been reading Jukka's posts and work for a few years and I have the
greatest respect for him. That said, is it only Jukka's opinion that flags
are inappropriate symbols to denote language, or is it a joint opinion
shared by many that it's a matter of wide-spread etiquette?

Ed Jay (remove M to respond)

[Back to original message]