Just joined Lemmy...not a fan of the language settings.

In my profile settings, I can choose my languages. A couple gripes with the web interface of this setting:

  • I have to hold down the Ctrl key to select multiple languages. While this was clear to me since I use this keyboard shortcut a lot in other contexts, this would definitely be confusing or unclear for most users.
  • This setting should be split into two. As of now, it determines what content you see, with all other content completely hidden...AND it determines what languages will appear in the language selector when making a post or comment. There should be separate settings for which languages are displayed and which appear in the language selector for a new post (because I don't want any content to be hidden, but I want to be able to easily select English for any new comment). Or at least a setting for a default language for new comments.
Feathercrown ,

Lack of a default comment language is a big miss imo. I don't want to have to select the same language I use for every comment every time I post one. Even if you did use multiple languages it would still be useful.

ikidd ,
@ikidd@lemmy.world avatar

I never see this, maybe because I'm using the Alexandrite UI?

Feathercrown ,

I'm using the default lemmy.world web ui if that helps

Blaze ,
@Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Have you added a thumbs up to that GitHub issue? https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/3513

Feathercrown ,

I hadn't, thank you

Mr_Mofu ,
@Mr_Mofu@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Honestly the language selection in general is just a bad idea/baddly executed. Until people told me that those where the reason 4/5s of posts and comments never showed up, I didnt know that these settings existed

I then just marked all of them which took ages and ever since my experience has been so much better. If they really wanna have this feature, then all languages should be selected from the getgo. If someone wants a language gone they should opt out istead of opting into everything else first.

If lemmy hides most of its content for someone new who doesn't know about those settings, then people are less incline to stay on lemmy. So overall it seems badly executed. I hope its something they improve especially for new users going forward

Blaze ,
@Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Honestly the language selection in general is just a bad idea/baddly executed. Until people told me that those where the reason 4/5s of posts and comments never showed up, I didnt know that these settings existed

That was a bug, nowadays the default behaviour is to have all languages displayed at account setup, the user can then change it afterwards it they want.

Mr_Mofu ,
@Mr_Mofu@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Oh I see, thats great to hear!

Omega_Haxors ,

Huh, you can select multiple languages. That's really convenient.

Blaze ,
@Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Feel free to comment on the relevant issues, at first glance most of your concerns are already part of one or another: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/labels/area%3A%20language-handling

vengefulgrapes OP ,

I'm a computer science student, and I guess I forgot that I can just kinda...fix the problem, when it comes to open source software.

maniel ,
@maniel@lemmy.ml avatar

also it would be nice if people would respect those settings while commenting and posting, not once I've seen English comment without language set and non English comments tagged as English

Blaze ,
@Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

The easiest way I've seen it is to enforce it at the community level.

Actually that makes me think I should probably do that in the communities I mod ha ha

dingus ,

If I have to choose which language I am speaking for every single post, it becomes a bit ridiculous. It makes more sense to just have users set a language once and only change it when they wish to post in a different language than they normally do.

maniel ,
@maniel@lemmy.ml avatar

It can be kinda annoying but it's not that cumbersome, imagine writing an alternative text for each image you post, now imagine it's considered a good practice in the professional internet and near requirement when posting on mastodon, but yeah, being able to set a default language for posts and comments would be nice

Blaze ,
@Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

You can comment on the GitHub issue: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/3513

Moonrise2473 ,

From mobile it's an incredible hassle to choose "English" hidden in a list with 5000 obscure languages. There should be an option to reduce the list to the 2-3 languages I can speak

vengefulgrapes OP ,

That's what the language selector in Setting does. The problem is that it also limits the content you can view to only posts set as being in those languages.

Jomn ,
@Jomn@jlai.lu avatar

Honest question but do you really want to see content that is in languages that you don't understand ?

I still agree that the UI needs to be clearer though.

vengefulgrapes OP ,

I would like to at least be able to. I could always translate it if I wanted to know what it said. And if I saw that there were comments I couldn't see, I know the curiosity would kill me. I just don't like blocking myself off from seeing content that I know is there.

Jomn ,
@Jomn@jlai.lu avatar

Ok that's fair.

CallumWells ,

You can. I've reduced my language list down from the default of "every single one". You should probably still keep "undetermined" selected as a "language", otherwise a lot of stuff people haven't actually tagged with a language won't show up.

maegul ,
@maegul@lemmy.ml avatar

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the devs acknowledge that it needs to be cleaned up.

If you’re up for it, they’d probably appreciate helpful suggestions in the relevant issue or ticket on GitHub.

imaqtpie ,
@imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works avatar

Agreed, this is definitely an area that can be significantly improved. I like your suggestions

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