[development] Drupal and i18n, the holy grail?

[Boris Mann]

On 26-Feb-06, at 3:47 PM, Benson Wong wrote:

> 1. The i18n module doesn't add multi-lingual node support. It adds a
> language flags to a node. This is an important distiction because
> you're still building two sites, they're just mashed together into one
> through complexity.

> 2. Using a language in the URL, "namespace", is a great approach, but
> it's just one intuitive way to designate the language. Totally
> separate issue from #1.
>
> 3. If nodes are not truely multi-lingual, it is better to build a site
> for each language. This will accomplish the same thing but in a
> simplier fashion.

All good points. Why not have separate sites? Remember, multi-site is  
in core. Workflow, actions, and publish/subscribe to push content  
between sites might be an appropriate way to build a multi-lingual  
solution. Much like organic groups vs. a separate site, you could  
probably build a good case for a site-per-language vs. single-site  
multi-lingual.

Is (true) multi-lingual best accomplished via an install profile? I  
agree that no hacks/patches should be the main goal for clean multi- 
lingual solutions. Actually, a dedicated multi-lingual support team  
is probably a good idea -- Jose, Ber, Ben, Mike Gifford, Khalid,  
Development Seed off the top of my head, with Jose with my nomination  
for lead (he's been living the pain since something like 4.5) -- What  
do you guys need in terms of support from Drupal.org in order to move  
forward?

P.S. Ben, thanks for taking the time to contribute your thoughts. I  
probably owe you several beers when I get back to Vancouver. Maybe at  
the first VanDUG, co-hosted by VanPHP? :P

--
Boris Mann
Vancouver 778-896-2747 San Francisco 415-367-3595
SKYPE borismann
http://www.bryght.com