Language selection



The site is supposed to be opened automatically in the good language (amongst the proposed languages). To enable this, you have to parameterize your browser appropriately. You will find instructions for this in the documentation of your browser, in the chapter concerning the selection of the prefered languages. Further in this page you will find links to the examples of Firefox and Ms-Internet Explorer.

Microsoft calls this "implicit globalization". Implicit because nothing has to be defined by the user on the site, globalization because this comes in a process that aims to propose information to the whole world (even if the last step of this process, according to the available means, is realized only for a certain number of languages).

You have the possibility to insert several languages in the options of your browser, to indicate what languages you can understand, in the order you master them -generally speaking, your mother language first, but there are some cases where you can have other preferences. For instance, it is a good idea to have your default browser selecting your mother language first, and Internet Explorer selecting English first, and to display Microsoft's pages with their browser, to avoid Microsoft displaying automatic translations -except if you understand them better than I ?

When a page is displayed, the languages you selected are tested in the order you selected them, to verify whether each language is provided for the considered page. If this is the case, the page is displayed in that language. If none of the languages you selected is provided for that page, it is displayed in the default language (for this site, it is English for all pages -supposing it is understood by more people).

On each page (of the old formula), you have a link in the upper right corner to display the page in the other language (amongst French and English). The new formula, that replaces it progressively, automatically detects your language preferences, and presents a dropdown list in the upper right corner to allow you to change this preference in-line.

Microsoft calls this way of choosing the language "explicit globalization". I guess this could sound more "explicit" this time : the user explicitly chooses his language on the page he (she) is reading.

This preference, modified on the page, is kept twenty minutes from the last displayed page. The time can be reset by the display refresh command, that most of the browsers execute with the F5 key.

Please note that, opposite to the use of the default language from you browser configuration, the function of the dropdown list relies on the execution of local scripts and session scripts. The dropdown list will have no effect if you do not authorize the execution of scripts and session cookies.

Here is how to select languages in Firefox

Here is how to select languages in Internet Explorer


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