In the previous article, we talked a bit about multilingual website design. In this section, we want to continue the same discussion to get acquainted with more details.
Table of Contents
Convenience in language selection
When designing a multilingual website, it should be noted that the choice of language is easy for users. Placing the language selection in the Footer and at the bottom of the website or in one of the submenus that is not fully visible is often a mistake. Language selection should be one of the first elements that the user encounters after entering the site.
Observe multilingualism in all aspects of communication
This also seems simple, but is often overlooked in the design of a multilingual site. For example, when a user registers on a website, the website usually sends a confirmation or thank you email to the user. In designing multilingual sites, it is necessary to send these confirmation emails in the same language as the person selected.
How to display the language change option
A multilingual website without the option to change the language is practically no different from a regular monolingual website. When designing a multilingual website, this option is usually placed in the upper right or left corner of the page (for LTR languages such as English, the upper left corner is more appropriate). It is also possible to select the language selection at the bottom of the footer – such as amanzon.com or IBM.com – where you choose to change the language of the website depends on the type of web design and your audience, but the important thing in This is where this part is designed to be easily visible and accessible.
You can also use the “flag” image of countries to select a language, although in many cases it is better not to use this method in designing multilingual websites for the following reasons:
- The flag is in fact a symbol of countries, not a language
- A country may have more than one official language
- A language may be the official language of several countries
- Users may sometimes not be able to recognize flags correctly
One way for websites that support multiple languages is to list the languages in alphabetical order. It is also best to write the name of each language in the same language; For example, it is better to use “Deutsch” instead of “German“, which means “German” in German.
Redirect
On many websites, users are automatically redirected to the home page if they are on internal pages, which can confuse them to rediscover the previous page. Try to design a multilingual site so that the user stays on the same page on each page of the website after changing the language.