6. Locale
Locales are a composite of a language and region or country, and may include a script which defines the character set used if there is more than one used for the language.
| # | Item | Description |
|---|---|---|
| a | Locale | Locale being viewed |
| b | Name | Full name of the locale |
| c | Enabled | Whether the locale is publicly viewable |
| d | Override | Whether Indo-Arabic numeric characters are used instead of those native to the locale. Only applies to user interface text or display of management pages' values |
| # | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | User | Available user interface languages to use for Smallsite Design supplied text, such as on buttons. List begins with languages with the same reading direction as the current locale, followed by a double line and the languages in the opposite direction |
| 2 | Next | Locale to use as the fall-through if an article or text doesn't exist for the current one. Select None to fall-through directly to the master locale. Displays None for the master locale. Not shown if only one locale |
| 3 | Quotes | Which set of outer+inner quotes to use |
| 4 | Rename | List of regions available for the current language-script. After selection, the login page will be displayed. Only available if there are no current article phases |
| 5 | Remove | Remove the locale. After confirmation, the login page will be displayed. Only available if there is no Next locale for the locale and no current article phases |
Locales cannot be renamed or deleted if there are any articles being edited. A locale can only be renamed within same language and script, so only different regions are offered as options. The restriction is because renaming to another language or script would not alter existing text, but a browser's spelling and grammar tools would likely indicate a lot of errors. The rendering direction of pages is according to the locale in force, not the reading direction of the user interface language. While user languages of the opposite reading direction can be selected, do so only if necessary.
After adding a locale, ensure all non-main subsites and categories have had all their texts defined for that locale before enabling it. For articles that do not have that locale enabled in the Details section of their Article head page until their texts have been translated, they will fall-through to an enabled locale, and show a message above their header indicating that the locale is unavailable and which one is being used for display. All links on the page will still use the intended locale to maximise locale continuity while traversing the site.
Having /-/ at the end of the path of links to other Smallsite Design sites will add the current locale and accessibility status to facilitate experience continuity between them. Must be before any query or fragment. With an incoming link that specifies a locale, Smallsite Design will attempt to find a matching locale, else one that may have a different region, else use the master locale.
Typically, each nation has an official style guide that specifies which quotes to use, but while newspapers may use that, online outlets tend to use what their readers expect, which often means the US “ ‘ ’ ” resulting from their decades of cultural dominance of the web. Look at what the online news sites that your target audience likely uses to see what might be best to use. See Related sites for some links for research.