commit 00c39694414a290fa1985d9eaa4f9193eef86314
from: Omar Polo <op@omarpolo.com>
date: Tue Aug 04 13:07:56 2020 UTC

new post

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+The HTTP protocol provides a definition for various headers.  Among
+the various header defined, there is one that interest this rant
+today: `Accept-Language`.
+
+In layman's terms, the `Accept-Language` is used to tell the server
+what language(s) the user understands.  For instance, when I visit a
+website, firefox sends something like this:
+
+	Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5
+
+This means that I want English pages.  Now, as always, in reality the
+server can do what it wants, and that's right.  As an example, when
+you visit Wikipedia you can read an entry in other languages, or maybe
+you're using a web application that lets you choose the language.
+
+There are also moments when you have to ignore this headers.  No
+matter what `Accept-Language` you send when reading this entry, the
+server will always reply with an English text.  This is also fine, as
+not every content is available in every language.
+
+However, if you have content in different languages then ignoring the
+`Accept-Language` header and use the IP address to determine the
+language to use is just plain dumb.  This is so stupid that I
+shouldn't even write about it, but one of the biggest sites out there
+does this, and today was the straw that breaks the camel's back.
+
+Even if I'm Italian and live in Italy, I use the `en_US.UTF-8` locale
+and browse the internet in English.  Over 90% of my queries on DDG or
+google are in English (the percentage is completely arbitrary, but
+shouldn't be too wrong).  I want the majority of websites to use the
+English language when they serve me pages, and most of them respects
+this decision.  Not google.
+
+If I search something on google, I usually do it in a "private"
+window, so the preferences aren't saved and every single time I have
+to click to "English" in the homepage.  Or skim through a page of
+results only to realize that I have to click "Change to English".
+
+(Regarding the "private" window: I try to avoid google in general, so
+I came up with this rule to use it only in private window.  It's a
+inconvenience to reduce the number of times I use it.  Privacy isn't
+really a concern here, given my `User-Agent` and a bit of GeoIP
+machinery it should be über easy to track me online.  How many OpenBSD
+users live in northern Italy?  I only know one guy except me)
+
+There was a time when if you visited `google.it` it should use the
+Italian language for the search results, and `google.com` used to
+deliver English/international-ish results.  That was just perfect
+(still broken, but at least workable).  Now google just see an Italian
+IP and use Italian for the search results.
+
+I wonder if I'll go to, say, Japan in vacation and do a search on
+google, will I see Japanese results?
+
+Even if this is just another example of google completely ignoring
+even the most basic standards just to cook up an half-broken NIH
+solution, it surprises me every time I think about it.  (Talking 'bout
+NIH, believe me, I have another rant waiting to be written about
+building a library made by them)
+
+Is it really too difficult for google to just parse a goddamn header?
+
+---
+
+Addendum: the reason I prefer to browse the web in English is that, at
+least for what concerns CS and tech in general, there seems to be
+better results in English pages rather than in Italian pages.
+
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-[{:title "Localization of dates in web pages"
+[{:title "Using IP addresses to assume the language is dumb"
+  :slug  "ip-to-assume-language-dumb"
+  :date  "2020/08/04"
+  :tags  #{:rant}
+  :short "just your daily rant"
+  :music {:title "One Morning"
+          :by    "Grant Lee Phillips"
+          :url   "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClmbCOW73eo"}}
+ {:title "Localization of dates in web pages"
   :slug  "localization-of-dates-in-web-pages"
   :date  "2020/08/03"
   :tags  #{:l10n}