Language navigation

[danacotoran]

What

This is a proposal to add a translation navigation/language toggle component or pattern to the Design System.
This proposal is somewhat related to (but more specific than) https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-design-system-backlog/issues/99

The purpose of this component would be to allow users to switch between the English language version of a page and any other language(s) the page may be available in, Welsh being the most common use case.

With two languages (most common):

With multiple languages:

Why

There are slightly different implementations of this component across government.

• GOV.UK have a "Translation nav" component in the govuk_publishing_components library. This is used very broadly across publications on GOV.UK
• HMRC Frontend has a similar "Welsh Language Toggle" component
• There is a very similar "Help users to Toggle to Welsh" pattern in the DWP Design System
• The One Login home team in DI have just added a similar component to their frontend application, roughly modelling it after the GOV.UK version

There might be other similar components since many services are available in Welsh and there is a real need to easily switch between languages.

There are many challenges/consideration around this component, such as best practices on accessibility and semantics.

It would be great if this could be standardised.

[querkmachine]

This was a stretch goal we didn't end up reaching for the localisation efforts last year, so I'll be very pleased if and when this ends up happening. There's a lot of complexity involved for such a simple component!

[owenatgov]

Hi @danacotoran 👋🏻 Thanks for this contribution. There's a lot of useful information here.

If you have access to any research done on this component please send it our way or post it here. We'll also leave this open for a bit in case other folks have evidence or views on this component. We'll keep you posted on developments on our end for picking this up. A greater wealth of evidence that there's a need for this helps with prioritisation (I think you've articulated a need very well so that last sentence isn't to say you've not articulated that need, just that more doesn't hurt!).

[querkmachine]

Back in 2022 I found eight different language switcher/selection designs used across various GOV.UK pages and services; sometimes in the header, sometimes in the body, sometimes in the footer.

Notably many of these also didn't include lang or hreflang attributes, and had link text that didn't state the link's purpose either in or outside of the surrounding context.

[danacotoran]

I spoke with Anika Henke (Senior Accessibility Specialist), as there was recently a digital accessibility audit on GOVUK, and pages using the translation nav component were included in the audit.
The 4 pages with that component that were included in the audit were:

• https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cost-of-living-payment
• https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house
• https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-uks-points-based-immigration-system-information-for-eu-citizens.cy
• https://www.gov.uk/world/organisations/british-embassy-paris.fr

DAC did not find any issues with the translation nav component, which suggests perhaps the GOVUK version of this component might be a good example to follow, at least as far as accessibility practices are concerned.

[romaricpascal]

Just noting in passing that there's some thorough guidance on translating services to Welsh on the HM Land Registry Design System.

[lewisdarlow-gds]

Hi @danacotoran 👋 , thank you for the contribution, the Design System team are looking into your contribution and other work that has been done across government on language switchers/toggles to see if the GOV.UK Design System is the right place for this contribution we will share back what we find with you. If you have any questions please let me know!

[LegendT]

I’m interested in helping with this. My background is in front-end development and accessibility.

I could produce a structured comparison of the existing GOV.UK Publishing, HMRC, DWP and One Login implementations, focusing on semantics, language attributes, link wording, current-page treatment, multiple-language support and accessibility.

Before doing that work, would this evidence still be useful, and are there particular unanswered questions the Design System team would want the comparison to address?

[NickColley]

Heya @LegendT!

Thanks for the offer to help, the GOV.UK Design System team is already doing that work (#5322) so we do not need help with that specifically right now.

If you have any examples of GOV.UK language switchers though feel free to contribute to this issue or we have a discussion over here with specific questions of what we're trying to find out: #5351

[romaricpascal]

We've published the Language navigation component in GOV.UK Frontend 6.5.0 with accompanying guidance on the Design System website.

The component is in trial status, we invite you to share your research in this GitHub discussion.