Switching languages on website

[gprit]

Now this is an interesting one.....I am in Thailand right now and will be doing some websites in both English and Thai (my wife will do the translation...).

Question, if someone switches from one language to another on a page HOW do I detect which page they are on so that I can switch to the equivalent page in the second language, rather than just reload the site homepage in the second language?

thanks

[franko]

You'd have to set a cookie when they changed language. When I was at 3Com (my last corporate employment) some 16 years ago we used a splash page where the user could select their language and maintained state after that. The only way is a cookie. Of course, if the person is cookie adverse then state is lost and you won't know which language they have selected.

Please don't ask me how to write and set cookies; I've never done it but I'm sure there is a plethora of information out there on the interweb.

[gprit]

Ah...writing cookies.....I've never written one either! Am also one of those people who constantly clear cookies....if I accept in the first place.

[franko]

Cookies are the only technology I'm aware of that allows you to maintain state. Without cookies there would be no ecommerce.