I want user to be able to input various flooring types for their rooms.
Ideally, I would like to use a pulldown (and validation) so that there
are a few consistent options. One of these options, though, is Japanese
‘tatami’ flooring (畳). Is there any reason NOT to store this in the
database as ‘畳’ instead of ‘tatami?’ Or should I just wait until I
integrate the Globalize plugin?
Taylor S. wrote:
I want user to be able to input various flooring types for their rooms.
Ideally, I would like to use a pulldown (and validation) so that there
are a few consistent options. One of these options, though, is Japanese
‘tatami’ flooring (畳). Is there any reason NOT to store this in the
database as ‘畳’ instead of ‘tatami?’ Or should I just wait until I
integrate the Globalize plugin?
If it will be the only kanji in the database, it seems like a lot of
trouble to go through (making sure everything is set to unicode, making
sure that your webserver can handle it [for some reason mongrel chokes
on kanji for me], and so on.) I guess it all depends on how much that
little character is worth displaying for you. Personally, I’d just write
it out in romaji.
On 12/11/06, Taylor S. [email protected] wrote:
I want user to be able to input various flooring types for their rooms.
Ideally, I would like to use a pulldown (and validation) so that there
are a few consistent options. One of these options, though, is Japanese
‘tatami’ flooring (e$B>ve(B). Is there any reason NOT to store this in the
database as ‘e$B>ve(B’ instead of ‘tatami?’ Or should I just wait until I
integrate the Globalize plugin?
This is an interesting localisation problem.
Obviously technical stuff: store everything in the database as UTF-8
and you are covered (well its not that simple but thats the basics).
That way the user can enter custom information for flooring types
that are japanese-only, or you can offer it as a choice in a drop down
or whatever.
Note that Globalise AFAIK assumes that you pick a dominant language
and stick to it. Translation is in effect unidirectional.
(Someone correct me on this if I am wrong). For the ‘english reference’
I would just romanize it: ‘tatami’ or ‘tatami (japanese floormats)’.
I am curious though, is tatami in this sense, just a flooring type?
In the same sense, that a user may have
wooden, hard-wood, carpeted, tiled, stone, linoleum, or PVC flooring
etc.
Or is it a unit of measurement (like a 4-tatami room)?
I know that tatami have a uniform size and are as a consequence
used as a unit of room size measurement, in the same way that
we might otherwise use square metres or square feet.
If thats the case, I wouldn’t try unit conversions between tatami
and sq/m,sq/ft.
Richard C. wrote:
If thats the case, I wouldn’t try unit conversions between tatami
and sq/m,sq/ft.
No one answered this, but I think it’s the latter. In Japan, it is
common to measure the size of a room in terms of tatami units…
Cheers
Mohit.