Suggestion to use URL fragment ​​of translated-content repo in English.

[hochan222]

Hello,


Maintaining the correct URL fragment value is a big cost in the current state. So I suggest to use URL fragment ​​of translated-content repo in English.

@wbamberg https://github.com/orgs/mdn/discussions/586



I think this isn't a showstopper, for a couple of reasons:

• although links break in the sense that they don't find the section of the page, it's not catastrophic: they still get to the page and if it still has the relevant content they can probably find what they are looking for.
• we haven't historically cared much about "link fragment compatibility", as opposed to link compatibility. If we move or delete a page, we always consider what should happen to people following the link, and we have a redirects file to help with that. But if we rework a page and retitle (or delete) headings, we don't typically worry about breaking fragments.

I fully agree with Wbamberg's point. I don’t think it’s crucial, but there are many fragment errors than in the content repo, and more will likely occur.

I’ll address the locale fragment issue once it's finalized, and I’d prefer not to see any major changes related to it afterward. I brought this suggestion up to clarify the direction and ensure consistency.

I also believe that if these issues can be addressed systematically, it would be better to do so.


Suggestion



A way to manage it with a consistent syntax across all locales.

(1) Markdown extended syntax.

# Heading name {#the_anchor_for_this_heading}

(2) Otherwise an explicit anchor, usually done with the id rather than name:

<a id="the_anchor_for_this_heading"></a>
# Heading name

(3) ...?

• https://github.com/orgs/mdn/discussions/586#discussioncomment-1024115
• https://github.com/orgs/mdn/discussions/387#discussioncomment-7477885
• https://github.com/orgs/mdn/discussions/527#discussioncomment-842697

Problems

Maintaining consistent translations for the same sentence is tough.

Words are managed by creating a glossary guide in ko-locale. As the title gets longer, its reusability declines, making us question whether it's appropriate to manage it as a glossary.



Translating the URL fragment is tough when the page doesn’t exist.


Let’s assume the page doesn’t exist, and the title is a full sentence. Generating a URL fragment to link from another page can be quite challenging. Because of this, contributors often leave fragments in English. In practice, there have been instances where the same title was interpreted differently and added as a URL fragment across various pages.

If the translation is updated with a slightly more accurate version in the future, the link might break. However, it’s challenging to expect contributors translating a single page to make essential revisions during reviews. 


• https://github.com/orgs/mdn/discussions/387#discussioncomment-7806132

Hash link errors can be tricky to trace.

If the title in the content repo changes, it will search for the fragments and update them all at once.

Due to different translations, typos, spacing, etc… Whenever we come across a broken fragment link, the only solution is to dive into the content repo, check all the pages where it's used, and fix them.

Since contributors change each time, there’s a high likelihood that, even with a guide, review ping-pong will occur over related issues.

@caugner https://github.com/orgs/mdn/discussions/693#discussioncomment-9859344
At the same time, I would argue that this just takes a small amount of time compared to the time to translate a page, and maintaining English headings or anchor names in the translated content likely causes other issues.

@caugner, I wonder what side effects there will be.

There's also the issue of encoding.

In some locales, encoding may be required. Typically, contributors create a title and click on it in the browser to generate the URL.

• https://github.com/orgs/mdn/discussions/332#discussioncomment-5016917

Conclusion

I believe the locale team will eventually span lots of times to handle the work related to URL fragments. However, I thought there might be a better approach, so I initiated this discussion before moving to encoded URLs. It’s important to also consider that some locales have already gone through significant conversion.

@mdn/localization-team-leads, Have you encountered any issues with this?

Thank you for reading. Have a great day :)

etc

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