This is a plugin that notifies a website visitor that their browser’s content language preferences are still set to the default value of English (US). The plugin provides guidance on how this can be changed if their main or preferred language is Welsh. The plugin can be installed easily into any website so that the greatest number of Welsh language web users can be made aware and helped.

Leaving a browser’s content language preferences on English (US) risks that English language pages of bilingual and/or multilingual websites to appear first.

Usage statistics from websites hosted by the Language Technologies Unit such as the Welsh language national terminology portal and Cysill Ar-lein (an online Welsh language spelling and grammar checker) show that English (US) is the preferred content language configured in the vast majority of users’ browsers. The evidence also shows that the majority of users remain in the English pages and do not click through to Welsh language versions. In fact, more than 90% of users of the Cysill Ar-lein facility within Canolfan Bedwyr’s Cymorth Cymraeg web will remain on the English language pages and will use the tool in English.

In this respect, and of significance for Welsh language speech recognition, the plugin uses technology to guide and encourage web users towards a smaller language instead of allowing technology to reinforce the dominance and status of a larger language.

Welshifying Firefox

Welshifying Google Chrome

Welshifying Microsoft Internet Explorer

How to install the Welshify widget

You can integrate the Welshify plugin into your website by adding the following lines into your website’s HTML source:

<!-- Ategyn Cymreigio Porwyr -->
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://techiaith.bangor.ac.uk/cymreigio-client/cymreigioporwyr/cymreigioporwyr.nocache.js"></script>
<!----------------------------->

In addition, this is the somewhat simple PHP code used in this site that integrates Welshify as a WordPress plugin. N.B. the source shows how the plugin is not included in English language pages

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: Cymreigio Porwyr
Description: Ategyn syml sy'n synhwyro ffurfwedd ieithyddol porwyr
Version: 1.0
Author: Uned Technolegau Iaith, Canolfan Bedwyr, Prifysgol Bangor
Author URI: http://techiaith.bangor.ac.uk
License: BSD
*/

function insert_cymreigio_gwtjs(){

	$qryStr = $_SERVER&#91;'QUERY_STRING'&#93;;
	parse_str($qryStr, $qryStrArray);

	if ($qryStrArray&#91;'lang'&#93; == null) {	

    	echo "
		<!-- Ategyn Cymreigio Porwyr -->
		<script type='text/javascript' language='javascript' src='http://techiaith.bangor.ac.uk/cymreigio-client/cymreigioporwyr/cymreigioporwyr.nocache.js'></script>
		<!-- -------------- -->
    	";

    }

}

add_action('wp_head','insert_cymreigio_gwtjs');

?>