[pmwiki-users] Tri-Linguality with columns?

[kirpi at kirpi.it]

> I'd like to have this wiki (http://free-music.uk.pn/) trilingual (german, english, french).
> The point is that I wanna have all three languages on one page
> next to each other in one column each.

Your site design is nice to look at, but doesn't fit for your
three-columns concept.
It wastes most users' screen space.
I would suggest, in case you really stick to your three-columns idea,
to switch to a full-screen, free-flow design, something like the
standard pmwiki skin.

I guess that some easy setup like:

 (:table border=1 width=100%:)
 (:cell:)
 (:comment HERE STARTS THE GERMAN TEXT SECTION:)
 Bla bla bla in German
 (:comment HERE ENDS THE GERMAN TEXT SECTION:)
 (:cell:)
 (:comment HERE STARTS THE ENGLISH TEXT SECTION:)
 Bla bla bla in English
 (:comment HERE ENDS THE ENGLISH TEXT SECTION:)
 (:cell:)
 (:comment HERE STARTS THE FRENCH TEXT SECTION:)
 Bla bla bla in French
 (:comment HERE ENDS GOES THE GERMAN TEXT:)
 (:tableend:)

could be enough for your goal, while being also rather safe for the
editors to understand what goes where.
This is true for the most basic needs.
But, please read on...


> I thought this would be a good way to make users aware of the internationality
> of the discussed issues in the wiki and to have all three languages equal
> to each other instead of one language below the other would foster translingual collaboration.

As far as I can say, you will hardly end up with something sound and usable.
And even if you will, your community of editors will most probably
**not** follow your plans.

In all sites of nations where more than one language is officially
spoken (Canada, Switzerland,...) I do not remember I ever saw a real
**working** side-by-side-language site.
And things complicate as you are handling a wiki, virtually edited by anybody.

For an international site I would (personally) go for the English
language, and let French and German alone.

Just in case, you might provide your pages with the MultiLanguage
recipe[1], which is able to take care of both the body of your page
and the SideBar menu. Also, this would positively open the door to
other wide-spoken languages (Spanish, Arabic, Chinese,...) in case
anybody is willing to contribute.[2]


Luigi


[1] http://pmwiki.org/wiki/Cookbook/MultiLanguage?from=Cookbook.Multilanguage
[2] Not to mention less widespread languages whose communities are
nonetheless quite active (Dutch, Finnish,...).