Interlanguage links/Implementation comparison

On Wikipedia sites and apps there are a lot of different ways to switch to reading an article in another language. Here are some observations and comparisons.

Desktop - Vector and Monobook

 * Location
 * In the end of the sidebar. (left-hand in LTR, right-hand in RTL).


 * Label
 * "In other languages". Customized in some projects as "Languages", "This page in other languages", and so on.


 * Appearance
 * All the languages' self-names (autonyms) sorted by the alphabetical order of the language code if the links are stored in Wikidata or in the order of appearance in the article source if these are old-style interlanguage links. The gear icon is shown near the label - it opens ULS, which doesn't change the content language, but controls other language settings.


 * Are the foreign article names shown?
 * Article names and names of the languages in the language of the wiki are shown as a tooltip.


 * Are featured article indicated?
 * Featured articles are marked using an icon near the autonym; the icon itself is different in different projects (citation needed: I recall that it used to be different, but may be it is consistent now that Wikidata supports badges?)


 * Pros:
 * No clicking needed to see the language names.
 * The big list of languages shows Wikipedia's massive multilingualism.


 * Cons:
 * It appears after all the other sidebar links, and scrolling may be needed.
 * The list can be very long. It sometimes happens that short articles have long lists.
 * It's hard to find the needed language in the long list.

Desktop - Vector and Monobook with the Compact language links beta feature
See Compact links.
 * Where
 * Same as usual Vector and Monobook, displayed differently.


 * Label
 * Same as usual Vector and Monobook.


 * Appearance:
 * Up to 12 autonyms are shown initially. They are chosen by geolocation, browser language, Accept-Language and the user's previously selected languages. An ellipsis button is shown below, with a short messages saying the number of languages. More autonyms are shown using ULS. Languages are searchable using the ULS search box.


 * Are the foreign article names shown?
 * In the initial list in the sidebar, article names and names of the languages in the language of the wiki are shown as a tooltip. Only autonyms are shown in ULS.


 * Are featured article indicated?
 * Only in the initial list.


 * Pros
 * All the pros of the above Desktop - Vector and Monobook.
 * The initial list is short and manageable.
 * The most likely languages are shown first, and the user's previous languages are remembered.
 * The languages are easy to search thanks to ULS's support of "search any language name in any language", especially in a very long list and for people who cannot easily type in the language that they need.
 * Geolocation doesn't add issues with privacy and performance because it's already done one every request anyway.
 * We use and contribute to standard CLDR language-territory data.


 * Cons
 * There are several known bugs in the beta feature.
 * More languages hidden behind a click.
 * More conditions may be needed to select the initial languages: featured articles, long articles, articles in languages that are related to the article's subjects, and so on.
 * If a list is short (under ~25 languages), the list in the ULS panel, divided into continents, may appear too sparse.
 * The process to update CLDR language-territory data, while easy enough, is not entirely in our control.

Desktop - Winter

 * Note
 * This is based on the last time I saw Winter. Its design is changing rapidly, so the information here may be already outdated, or become outdated soon.


 * Where
 * A box on the top of the info rail (right-hand in LTR, left-hand in RTL).


 * Label
 * "大A" Icon


 * Appearance
 * The first five autonyms are shown in two lines separated by interpuncts. The rest can be shown using a large ellipsis icon. Clicking the icon expands the whole list. It can be closed using an up arrow at the top of the list.


 * Are the foreign article names shown?
 * No.


 * Are featured article indicated?
 * No.


 * Pros
 * The initial list is short and manageable.
 * The top location is fairly easy to notice (more user testing and comparisons may be needed for better confirmation of this).


 * Cons
 * The list is alphabetical, and the languages in A happen to be not very common. This is likely to change in a future version, however, by applying logic similar to the one used in the Compact links beta feature (see its section).

iOS app

 * Where
 * A clickable element in the end of the page.


 * Label
 * "大A" Icon + "You can read this article in %d other languages"


 * Appearance
 * Tapping the element replaces the view with a list of languages. The autonym is shown in large type, and the English name of the language is shown below it in small grey type. The list is not shown immediately, but loaded after tapping. The sort order is probably by the article count of the Wikipedias. A search box at the top allows to filter the list by the autonym or the English language name.


 * Are the foreign article names shown?
 * No.


 * Are featured article indicated?
 * No.


 * Pros:
 * The design of the list matches iOS design visual patterns (citation needed!!!)
 * The location matches iOS design visual patterns (citation needed!!!)
 * The location is consistent with the desktop site.
 * Showing the language name in English is useful for people who don't have fonts for that language. However, if they don't have a font, they probably won't be able to read the article anyway (bundling a font or auto-downloading it may resolve this problem).


 * Cons:
 * If the user knows where to look for the list, scrolling is needed.
 * If the user doesn't know where the list is, it's not discoverable unless the user scrolls all the way down.
 * Scrolling all the way down can be a long process.
 * The order of the autonym and the English language name is opposite from the Android app.

Android app

 * Where:
 * The first item in a menu that opens after tapping a vertical ellipsis menu at the top.


 * Label
 * Read in other languages


 * Appearance
 * Tapping the menu item replaces the view with a list of languages. The English name of the language is shown in large type, and the autonym of the language is shown below it in small type. The list is not shown immediately, but loaded after tapping. The sort order is probably by the article count of the Wikipedias. A search box at the top allows to filter the list by the autonym or the English language name.


 * Are the foreign article names shown?
 * No.


 * Are featured article indicated?
 * No.


 * Pros
 * Showing the language name in English is useful for people who don't have fonts for that language. However, if they don't have a font, they probably won't be able to read the article anyway (bundling a font or auto-downloading it may resolve this problem).


 * Cons
 * The order of the autonym and the English language name is opposite from the Android app.

Mobile Frontend

 * Where:
 * A blue button in the end of the article.


 * Label
 * Read in another language or "大A" icon or both, overlapping (the latter is definitely a bug, but I cannot reproduce it consistently)


 * Appearance
 * Tapping the menu item replaces the view with a list of languages. The autonym is shown, followed by a pipe character (|) and the article name. The list is not shown immediately, but loaded after tapping. The sort order is (probably) the same as on desktop: by the language code. A search box at the top allows to filter the list by the autonym or the English language name.


 * Are the foreign article names shown?
 * Yes.


 * Are featured article indicated?
 * No.


 * Pros
 * Nice searching.
 * The article title is a useful addition to the language name (this assumption may need to be tested thoroughly, however)
 * The location is consistent with the iOS app.


 * Cons
 * If the user knows where to look for the list, scrolling is needed.
 * If the user doesn't know where the list is, it's not discoverable unless the user scrolls all the way down.
 * Scrolling all the way down can be a long process.
 * The article title is not an indicator of the language; if one is only looking for language information, it's noise.

Wikiwand - desktop site

 * Where
 * A round clickable element near the middle of a persistent top bar.


 * Label
 * The current language code in serif capital Latin letters. If the code has more than two letters, it is shortened to two.


 * Appearance
 * Clicking the element shows a menu of up to 5 items. Each item shows a language code, the English language name and the article name in smaller type. If there are more than 5 languages, another line is added. Clicking it shows the full list of languages as a sidebar on the left-hand side, with a search box at the top. This sidebar only shows the autonym and the English language name. It’s unclear how the first five languages are picked; I am in Israel and when I am reading the English Wikipedia article True Jesus Church, clicking this item shows English (!), French, German, Hebrew and Portuguese.


 * Are the foreign article names shown?
 * Only in the initial menu.


 * Are featured article indicated?
 * No.


 * Pros
 * Nice searching.
 * The discoverability at the top may be good (but see cons)


 * Cons
 * It’s unclear how the initial languages are chosen.
 * Inconsistency: Article names are only shown in the first list, but not in the full list.
 * I happen to know that EN and HE are language codes, but not all users know it.