[aida] Multilingual URLs

[Janko Mivšek]

Another good post and about a theme I'm just working on to add support 
in Aida.

Problem is how to make an Url to some resource which can represent 
itself in many languages. Same resource, but response in many languages. 
For example: a Wiki page with same content in many languages.

Designing URLs for Multilingual Web Sites
http://h3h.net/2007/01/designing-urls-for-multilingual-web-sites/

Approaches:

1. Language-specific Sub-domains

     * en.example.com/bar/baz
     * de.example.com/bar/baz

2. Modified Directory Structure

     * example.com/en-US/bar/baz
     * example.com/en-GB/bar/baz
     * example.com/de/bar/baz

3. Language Code in Querystring

     * example.com/bar/baz?lang=en-US
     * example.com/bar/baz?lang=en-GB
     * example.com/bar/baz?lang=de

4. Country-specific TLDs

     * example.us/bar/baz
     * example.co.uk/bar/baz
     * example.de/bar/baz

5. Pure Cookie-based Preference

     * example.com/bar/baz with cookie (lang=en-US)
     * example.com/bar/baz with cookie (lang=en-GB)
     * example.com/bar/baz with cookie (lang=de)

6. Use of Accept-Language HTTP Header

     * example.com/bar/baz with Accept-Language: en-us or en
     * example.com/bar/baz with Accept-Language: en-gb
     * example.com/bar/baz with Accept-Language: de

7. Semi-colon Path Parameter at End of Path

     * example.com/bar/baz;en-US
     * example.com/bar/baz;en-GB
     * example.com/bar/baz;de

8. Comma Path Parameter at End of Path

     * example.com/bar/baz,en-US
     * example.com/bar/baz,en-GB
     * example.com/bar/baz,de

9. Language Code in the Resource name

     * example.com/bar/baz.en-US
     * example.com/bar/baz-en-GB
     * example.com/bar/de.baz



Case Studies: High-profile Multilingual Web Sites

     * amazon.com: Country-specific TLDs (4)
     * google.com: Modified Directory Structure (2),
	Country-specific TLDs (4)
     * yahoo.com: Language-specific Sub-domains (1)
     * ebay.com: Country-specific TLDs (4)
     * wikipedia.com: Language-specific Sub-domains (1)


Best regards
Janko

-- 
Janko Mivšek
AIDA/Web
Smalltalk Web Application Server
http://www.aidaweb.si