install language selection should be radio buttons

You are correct, could you make a screenshot of your solution?

I clicked on the language link for the first time in probably a couple of years by accident, and got a bit confused. Probably need to try this out to see how it works, but seems like clicking one button + radio would've prevented that.

Attached patch will change the list item for English into a radio-input when it's the only language found and will display a full list of languages if more than 1 language is found (like it did before)

When the form is exposed and the default profile is used, the 'Learn how to install Drupal in other languages'-link will be added under all radios but before the button

Maybe this should be 'When any profile but the expert profile is used' and currently English will not be selected by default, even when it's the only option, so perhaps we should discuss that since there's no real disadvantages that arise from default to the only option available

patched wrong version... fail

patched the right version now, tested by manually applying the patch and adding a couple languages, seems to work as expected

1 silly exception on upload user picture :/

@8

1. I agree, seems silly not to
2. I dunno, I would remove it all together

forgot to add screens

I think we should remove, the li. And thus so, did.

Changed it to Save and continue, to be consistent with the rest of buttons in the installation process. Although select language, was already good - using something consistent here, will avoid any hesitation later on.

what should it default to?
if no other languages to english
if one other language to nothing or to the only other language?
if more than 1 language to nothing or to english?

English, is the default. We could add logic, but not sure if that is correct.

Intresting, if someone can give this a code review, then its a RTBC

re-rolled and tested, looks ok to me

Looks good.

- "Save and continue" sounds a little funny -- would it be better to say just "Next"?

- Having only one radio button looks a bit odd, but I guess that is OK?

- Actually, save and continue is good. We use it consistently in Drupal core and in this installer?

- I think its ok, just makes people press continue faster - which should be an win

Radio button looks ok to me, imho it makes it more clear that there could be more options, rather than a link saying "Install in English"

Yeah, I agree that the one radio button looks like a total UI wtf, and it's one that probably 98% of our users will be exposed to on literally the first screen that they see in Drupal. Radios are only supposed to be used if there is more than one choice available. From http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040927.html:

Radio buttons are used when there is a list of two or more options that are mutually exclusive and the user must select exactly one choice.

I spoke with Bojhan about two possible alternatives:

1. Remove the radio button when there's only one choice available (change it into #type => markup). He doesn't like this approach because it doesn't inform the user about the fact that there will be further choice there if they follow the instructions in the link below.

2. Just remove this step in the installer altogether if there's only one language. Bojhan is skeptical that we can pull this off by our 12/1 deadline. I'm inclined to agree, and I'm not sure what the i18n team would think about this change.

I do agree that offering radios as opposed to links is a much better UI construct, since it's not remotely obvious that links are presenting a choice, but...

I'm going to kick this back to "needs review" for another 48 hours and see if we can come up with something better. If not, bump it back to RTBC and we'll go with this approach.

2. Just remove this step in the installer altogether if there's only one language. Bojhan is skeptical that we can pull this off by our 12/1 deadline. I'm inclined to agree, and I'm not sure what the i18n team would think about this change.

From a technical standpoint this is very easy to do - because it's actually what we do already for all other profiles except the default profile :) However, that behavior is basically a bug: #562722: Language choice during installation - Drupal(minimal) profile skips language choice

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In terms of other ideas, I almost wonder if the "Learn how to install Drupal in other languages" link could be turned into a radio button also? In other words, something like this:

Choose language

• English (built-in)
• Other languages (download required)

[Continue]

Interesting! What would happen when the second option was chosen? We'd be taken to the existing instructions page?

That would resolve my concerns with using radio buttons here. yoroy/Bojhan what say you?

What would happen when the second option was chosen? We'd be taken to the existing instructions page?

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

Well I am really not sure if this is better. Yes it solves the problem, of one radio but it creates a another problem. It sets the expectation, that one can have radio's which don't actually offer any choice - but rather continues to a help text page? I am really unsure, if we want to introduce this into Drupal.

don't think the latest suggestion makes more sense than a single radio. The 'learn how to' is really a link to somewhere else and should behave like that.

1. Remove the radio button when there's only one choice available (change it into #type => markup). He doesn't like this approach because it doesn't inform the user about the fact that there will be further choice there if they follow the instructions in the link below.

Hmm, I actually like this option best. Is it really up to this particular screen to describe the consequences of clicking the 'learn how to…' link? Couldn't that be mitigated on the 'learn how to' page itself? I don't see how pointing out the consequences of things you haven't chosen to do yet is good ux. It sounds like the overly helpful help texts we've actively been cutting out of the interface.

If we must, a rewrite of the link text could solve this a bit: 'Get more languages to show up here…"

… which is just me argueing for the solution that's considered not feasible anymore at this stage, so no new insights after all…

Sooo, with no better idea than the single radio I think we should just do it. It's a bit stupid but there's nothing in it that will break if you mindlessly/impatiently click the 'save and continue' button. It's sub-optimal but not too much mental friction introduced here I think.

I agree with Bojhan that a radio button that just brings the user to a help page is a really bad solution, it's basically using a form for something it's not intended to be used for

why don't we just stick to the current behaviour when there is only 1 language available, and use radio buttons only when there are more than 1?

so in case of 1 language: show 2 links, no form
in case of more: show radio buttons with the link to the help stuff and a button

if it's imperative that we keep a consistent workflow during the install, as in use a form with a consistent button to proceed, then I'd say a regular markup item with "Installing Drupal in English." and a link to the help stuff and a button to proceed seems like the best option

even if this means using a form without presenting any options... This is done quite a lot, just think of those forms where they make you review everything you've entered before proceeding, it's essentially the same thing, you're making the user stop and think if he wants to proceed with the current settings

I dunno. I still think that presenting a single radio button choice here puts way too much visual emphasis on Drupal's multilingual installation capabilities which only apply to the tiniest fraction of the people installing Drupal. Most will just install it in English and then add their native languages later on through the Locale UI afterwards.

Bojhan, is there any chance in swaying your opinion towards #26 option 1?

I am still somewhat estranged by this, why is it better to have 2 radio's where only one offers an actual choice - then having 1 radio? If it puts to much visual emphasis, I think its even more now - as we treat both options as equals even though they aren't.

I am sorry webchick, but I mean - we can do a lot of things not to make it one radio, but none of them seem right (are we not just focusing to much on finding the perfect solution here? Take a look at the flow, it doesn't seem right in the flow thats what we should fix first)

Setting patch #21 back to RTBC.

All right. I still think this looks like a bug, and works against the well-established UI pattern for radios, but I agree that the current situation with two links and no button doesn't make any sense, so (I guess) it's better than doing nothing...

Committed to HEAD.

why is it better to have 2 radio's where only one offers an actual choice

So, the unspoken followup issue here would have been to actually make both of them offer an actual choice.... (i.e., use the update manager to let people download and install new languages directly from within the UI on the "help screen", which would then no longer just be a help screen anymore).

That would be really neat, but any effort to get the update manager working in the installer in Drupal 7 should probably be focused on #418302: Copy default.settings.php to settings.php during install IFF webserver owns files (FTP on shared hosting) at this point (since it's a much more important issue), so for now, I guess a single radio button is the best we can do here...

@David_Rothstein Right on, yup!