[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #28577: Allow language to be chosen during initial install

[WordPress Trac]

#28577: Allow language to be chosen during initial install
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 Reporter:  nacin           |       Owner:
     Type:  task (blessed)  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal          |   Milestone:  4.0
Component:  I18N            |     Version:
 Severity:  normal          |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  needs-patch     |     Focuses:
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Changes (by nacin):

 * keywords:  has-patch => needs-patch


Comment:

 The to-do list here is not short. If you want to help out, there's a list
 at the bottom. Main things to do: better error & filesystem handling,
 setup-config.php, locale variants, improved localization, language
 suggestions. The details:

 On errors:

  * Before showing the language chooser, pre-flight whether we can actually
 download and install language files using 'direct' file access. Thinking
 we ignore FTP?
  * Gracefully fail if we failed to install the target language. Right now
 it'll simply load everything in English and not end up setting WPLANG.
 While this is graceful, it is also silent. Desired?

 On implementation:
  * Bring this to setup-config.php somehow. The wp_die() in wp-load.php is
 troublesome; we'll probably need to come up with an all-new workflow and
 code flow.
  * Locale variants need to be designed and implemented.

 On localization:

  * Rather than using the native name, use "Use English as the main
 language" (but translated into the language). This will be translated on
 translate.wordpress.org but actually served from the API. Also, rather
 than an arrow, we can use a translation of "Continue" or "Let's go!" or
 "Get started" (again, served from the API) for the button.
  * Certain languages are best displayed in certain ways. We need to
 investigate these. For example, Hebrew should be in  RTL including Arabic
 should be in Tahoma. Of course, this is pretty easy to configure via the
 API. Might these need to be also aligned right? There's also a language in
 central Asia that requires its own typeface, if I recall correctly. We
 will probably need to abandon this multi-line select box in favor of
 something more robust in order to improve styling.

 The order of language suggestions:

  * If we detect a language based on your browser, this should be first. If
 we detect multiple, we should list them in the order specified.
  * If we are able to guess one or more language suggestions based on your
 IP address, these should come next.
  * If you downloaded a particular language's ZIP package, this language
 should be listed next. (It's possible this should actually be the very
 first one.)
  * English (US) should then be listed.
  * All other languages should be listed in some kind of alphabetic order.
 Currently the API is ordered by ISO per an initial suggestion from Zé
 (vanillalounge), but this means languages like Spanish (Spain) and Spanish
 (Chile) are not listed anywhere near each other. We could benefit from
 some kind of natural sort, even if this is done manually (based on the
 order from GlotPress, for example).

 '''If you want to help, the best things to help with are:'''
  * The 'errors' stuff, which should be straightforward-ish but will
 require some familiarity (or desire to gain familiarity) with WP_Upgrader
 and friends.
  * The setup-config.php stuff. This is probably gonna be a sizable
 refactor; may require a few attempts / false-starts. (Show your work; it
 helps to see what others have tried.)
  * Research how to best display and sort native names. How do others do
 it? (OS X, Ubuntu, Drupal, Joomla...)

 I'll be working on the more complex tasks that require heavy .org
 integration:
  * Suggestions
  * Locale variants
  * Leveraging string translations via the API

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/28577#comment:8>
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