Complex language support in keywords (Japanese)

Eileron

Hey everyone,

Been having a time here so far, but came across...well, not really a bug, but I suppose a feature request today.

I can input kanji as keywords in Smugmug, which is great because tagging locations in Japan, this is the best way to do it. But when I look at the keywords menu, etc, the keywords don't show up at all. On some level I suppose this is a bug, but I know the complexity, so I suppose I was coming here to ask on this possibility:

Any chance we can get keyword support for complex languages, such as Chinese and Japanese?

Pros: Could open the site to an international audience.
Cons: They're not called complex languages for nothin'

Thanks everyone!,

D

Andy

Eileron wrote:

Hey everyone,

Been having a time here so far, but came across...well, not really a bug, but I suppose a feature request today.

I can input kanji as keywords in Smugmug, which is great because tagging locations in Japan, this is the best way to do it. But when I look at the keywords menu, etc, the keywords don't show up at all. On some level I suppose this is a bug, but I know the complexity, so I suppose I was coming here to ask on this possibility:

Any chance we can get keyword support for complex languages, such as Chinese and Japanese?

Pros: Could open the site to an international audience.
Cons: They're not called complex languages for nothin'

Thanks everyone!,

D

Hi, there are limitations on this - ajax related and more. We've asked, and the answer has been "no," unfortunately. I wish I had a better answer for you

iamback

Andy wrote:

Hi, there are limitations on this - ajax related and more. We've asked, and the answer has been "no," unfortunately. I wish I had a better answer for you

In that case I guess the request changes to the following:

It would be great if those who need UTF-8 support (descriptions, captions and keywords) could have a configuration option for SmugMug to not use those AJAX functions.

I need UTF-8 support too. Especially in keywords, but also captions and page/gallery descriptions.

The whole point about having those elements on a page is not just that someone who's on the page can actually read it, but also that they can find the page in the first place.

Google (and Yahoo! and MSN for that matter) has no problem sending people searching for a Turkish place name to my Travel Blog because I use the same Turkish place name in Turkish on my pages, too. To tie the photographs to that, they will need those same place names in Turkish in the keywords as well. Just one (realistic) example...

Andy

iamback wrote:

Google (and Yahoo! and MSN for that matter) has no problem sending people searching for a Turkish place name to my Travel Blog because I use the same Turkish place name in Turkish on my pages, too. To tie the photographs to that, they will need those same place names in Turkish in the keywords as well. Just one (realistic) example...

Far from realistic.

Last I checked, Google and Yahoo were a bit bigger than SmugMug. Please, you must realize, that not every single feature request can be implemented the moment someone makes it

We prioritize them all, and we do what we can, while still innovating across the site.

Thank you for your understanding.

iamback

Andy wrote:

Far from realistic.

Eh? Why do you say that? I'm describing exactly what I need to do.

Andy wrote:

Last I checked, Google and Yahoo were a bit bigger than SmugMug. Please, you must realize, that not every single feature request can be implemented the moment someone makes it

Did I say I want it right now? No, I didn't. I do need UTF-8 support though, and I jumped in here because it's obvious I'm not the only one.

I'd also like to understand what (your) AJAX is (not) doing that makes UTF-8 impossible here. I've seen other threads about characters disappearing from keywords (but not from descriptions), and confirmed this by testing, but I can't remember any mention of AJAX in that context.

Andy wrote:

We prioritize them all, and we do what we can, while still innovating across the site.

It's not as though adding UTF-8 support is not innovation - it would be great innovation, in fact!

This very forum software, vBulletin, is in fact using AJAX for edit-in-place of forum messages, and it stores all messages i a database - and it preserves all Unicode characters just fine. A few CJK radicals: 月巛 (I hope that doesn't combine into a dirty word!) <== I pasted in that paragraph using AJAX, and I'm editing it now using AJAX.


Now, where do I go to put this feature request officially on record so you can prioritize it? The combination of threads with the issue tracker on the wiki is highly confusing.

iamback

iamback wrote:

I'd also like to understand what (your) AJAX is (not) doing that makes UTF-8 impossible here. I've seen other threads about characters disappearing from keywords (but not from descriptions), and confirmed this by testing, but I can't remember any mention of AJAX in that context.

(...)

This very forum software, vBulletin, is in fact using AJAX for edit-in-place of forum messages, and it stores all messages i a database - and it preserves all Unicode characters just fine. A few CJK radicals: 月巛 (I hope that doesn't combine into a dirty word!) <== I pasted in that paragraph using AJAX, and I'm editing it now using AJAX.

A little test later... AJAX in this context is just a red herring.

I've just added a (completely relevant and realistic) Arabic name to:

• Captions
• A gallery description
• A gallery name

They all display just fine and the UI for updating those is, in fact, using AJAX. The string is converted to numeric entities, but that's OK - search engines have no problem with that, they'll find the name just fine.

It is only the keywords that don't work (there, the string is "converted" into question marks).

So why? Why can't the same string be also converted to numeric entities there? Three bits of user interface, all three using AJAX. It looks like just a single function call is missing for updating the keywords that is being used for updating gallery names and descriptions.

Andy

iamback wrote:

It looks like just a single function call is missing for updating the keywords that is being used for updating gallery names and descriptions.

What looks simple to you is indeed quite complex and involved.

iamback

Andy wrote:

What looks simple to you is indeed quite complex and involved.

It looks simple to me because I'm doing those things on my own website, Andy.