Re: [Lynx-dev] Proposed patch to init preferred-doc-lang from LANG/LANGUAGE

[Henry Nelson]

On Sat, Apr 28, 2007 at 12:42:45PM -0400, Chuck Houpt wrote:
> Imagine a Japanese user, Ai, who knows little or no English and has 

:)

> At first, things look good - Lynx launches and says, in Japanese, 
> "Loading google.com...", but then Google's front page appears in some 
> foreign language (she thinks it might be English).
> 
> Ai's first impression of Lynx: "Too bad, looks like Lynx doesn't 
> support Japanese web sites..."
> 
> Of course, Ai is a professional. She knows that if she digs into the 
> doc/config/code of Lynx, there is probably some settings, work-around 

If she's such a professional, she would not jump to the conclusion that
"Lynx doesn't support Japanese web sites".  In fact she'll know immediately
that she forgot to set her language preference and either go to the O)ption
menu to make her setting, or the H)elp menu to find out about the O)ption
menu.

> So the patch is not aimed at Lynx power-users - it's is aimed at new 
> users. The goal is to make Lynx behave the way new users expect. 

You baby those new users and they will never learn about "preferred
language."  Since Ai is fluent in Chinese, she sure is going to miss out
if she gets locked into 100% ja.  At least with Lynx, she will have
occasion to learn about it.  (BTW, the English literacy rate of college
graduates in Japan is close to 100%.  Poor ol' Ai got stuck in the lower
1 percentile.)

> Since most web browsers default the preferred language based on 
> locale, users expect the same from Lynx.

Well, Lynx isn't "most web browsers."  Thank goodness.

__Henry

  "Using Lynx is like wearing a really good pair of shades: cuts out
   the glare and harmful UV (ultra-vanity), and you feel so-o-o COOL."
                                         -- me, March 1999