Allow locale dependent URLs

[flodolo]

We considered this a non blocker for launch, but it would be worth investigating.

Can we get https://monitor.firefox.com/cy to see the Welsh version?

Strictly related: should we have a language switcher to allow users to switch to a different language?

[pdehaan]

I was actually thinking of this again today while trying to scrape the site for different locales to take screenshots...

@flodolo Is this request more for front end users, or more for localizers wanting to quickly check translations without having to fiddle with their browser language settings?

Not sure if there would be an easy way to add support for variable routes based on locale name (like dynamically adding /cy and /cy?breach=LinkedIn from a list/array of supported locales; but possibly simple if we can convert the process.env.SUPPORTED_LOCALES into a friendly RegExp, like app.get(/.*fly$/, function (req, res) { res.send('/.*fly$/'); })), versus just toggling via a query parameter (a la monitor.firefox.com?locale=ru and monitor.firefox.com?breach=Adobe&locale=ru), where the locale= query param would override whatever is happening from fluent-langneg.

[flodolo]

Mostly user, I'd say.

Example scenarios:

• I share a link to the Sorbian version of Firefox Monitor on social media, but there's no support for Sorbian in the OS, so users will end up on a different language without even realizing there's a Sorbian version. Language switcher could help improving visibility, but not fixing links from the outside.
• I visit the site and get the English version, because my OS is in English and I never bothered to change the accept languages settings (or I don't know what/where they are). Here the language switcher is useful more than a custom link.

Other reasons:

• SEO: search engines don't see the localized version, as far as I can tell. I think locale-specific URLs would fix that.

[rraue]

I can just support what @flodolo commented regarding search engines. The setup right now is not readable for most crawlers. Here a screenshot of Google in Germany:

We need specific locale folders, a hreflang setup in the head so they are discoverable and ideal would be a language switcher like on www so users can switch if they would like to. The folders alone will not be enough, as most crawlers come with an english setup, but with hreflang it will be easy to connect and crawl all other available languages.

Happy to help with the international SEO and hreflang logic, if needed.

[rraue]

Any news on this issue? Especially with skyline coming soon, it will be harder to growth organically with the campaigns when minitor, send and lockwise will have only english appearance in german search results. The top suggestion searching for Firefox Monitor in germany is already "Firefox Monitor deutsch" asking if this service is available in german.

[groovecoder]

@sandysage - can we consider this issue as a possible website enhancement between Skyline merge date and release?

[EMMLynch]

Closing since we've redesigned the site and functionality since this was created. If you feel that this is still needed, please let me know.

[flodolo]

This is still a problem that we should solve.