[Wikipedia-l] Re: Flags

Mon Jan 10 14:02:53 UTC 2005

Ronald Chmara wrote:

>
> In regards to flags, might I suggest, in the spirit of "A Modest 
> Proposal":
> For each language spoken,  rather than use one flag for "color", might 
> I suggest that each language have representational flags representing 
> all countries where 1% or more of the resident population speaks that 
> language. Thus, for the english language, we would have a mere 38 
> flags or so, making sure we had quite a colorful and attractive 
> layout. Same with French, Spanish, and possibly a few other languages. 
> At the top and bottom of each page, rather than having something dull 
> and legible like text, we could have hundreds of bright and colorful 
> flags, representing all of the recognized and provisional 
> nationalities, so one may switch to flags, rather than languages!
>
> <snip>
>
How odd - I just had a similar idea. I don't think mine goes as far as 
Ronald's though; mine is just purely for aesthetic purposes. I would 
suggest that in place of flags on Jens' layout, we have mosaics of flags 
- miniature flags all combined together to form one giant flag. So the 
"flag" for France, for example, might include the Canadian (or 
Quebecian, or whatever they're called, flag) as well as the French. 
There are two criteria for inclusion of a flag in the mosaic that I can 
think of; either the language must be an official language of the 
country, or it must be spoken by more than x percent of people in the 
country.

There are of course cons to this approach. Chinese would still have the 
original problem, though perhaps with selective IP guessing, we could 
filter it... Another is that eventually the number of flags may be so 
many that the "flag" mosaic will not contain any visible flags but 
instead smudges of varying colours.

But still, it's a unique approach. I just can't stand the portal being 
so...ugly as it is.

John Lee
([[en:User:Johnleemk]])