[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #60091: Improve language dropdown usability (was: Language Selection Issue on Frontend)

[WordPress Trac]

#60091: Improve language dropdown usability
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 Reporter:                |       Owner:  (none)
  alanjacobmathew         |
     Type:  defect (bug)  |      Status:  assigned
 Priority:  normal        |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  I18N          |     Version:
 Severity:  normal        |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch     |     Focuses:  ui, accessibility, administration
  2nd-opinion             |
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Comment (by swissspidy):

 Since an update was requested:

 The current PR does not adequately address this ticket in its fullest,
 because the ticket mentions multiple separate-yet-related issues:

 **Issue 1: Keyboard navigation**

 It's impossible to select locales with non-latin characters using a latin
 keyboard.

 The current PR ''does not'' address this, simply because the browser by
 default looks at the beginning of the text for keyboard navigation, not
 the end.

 Solving this would require a more complex, JavaScript-based solution for
 an autocomplete dropdown with smarter filtering. Probably with Gutenberg's
 [https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/tree/6808d7d4fdbc7430944466657c858af42bb02099/packages/components/src
 /combobox-control ComboboxControl component], which could theoretically be
 added via the [https://wordpress.org/plugins/preferred-languages/
 Preferred Languages feature plugin]

 This begs the question whether this is actually a widespread issue or not.
 So I would appreciate more user feedback on this one.

 If it's not a common issue, we might not need to solve this with such a
 more complex component.

 **Issue 2: Languages like Tamil given twice**

 The current PR ''does'' address this issue by showing the English name
 after the native name. This solution was also suggested in #60522 (now
 closed as a duplicate) in order to improve usability.

 A suggested short term workaround is to notify the respective polyglots
 teams to update the translation, so that they simply update their
 translation. That would immediately help solve this as well.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/60091#comment:13>
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