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I am looking to build a multilingual website using MS expressions web. The website will consist of a blog and possibly a art display portions. I would like to do all translations manually but I don't want to have more then one CSS stack. What would be the best way to populate the website text. Because this is just a learning experience I will host the website myself. What would be the best method to implement such a website: XML or SQL.

andNoob
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In my professional opinion I would use SQL simply because databases are always easier to edit and handle (in my opinion...) than XML, I like KatieK's idea of simply querying a different database based on which language it is in. However, if this is a learning experience I would use whichever language you know least of b/c it will teach you more.

Also (as a side-note), if this is run locally, you have to consider the ramifications of having MYSQL database calls, it means you have to deal with server side scripting (I'm assuming you will get the XML using js, although I could be wrong), its CPU usage (although I wouldn't worry too much abut that...), and preventing mysql injection.

Finally (this is my last side-note, I swear), I know you said that you wanted to do all the translations yourself, but I thought it couldn't hurt to mention that you don't have to.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

Tomas Reimers
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  • SQL it is. I've never use google translate but I look forward to seeing how accurate the translation is. Thank you for your answer. – andNoob Jun 02 '11 at 21:55
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    What I've found for Google translate (and note that I've only used it once, on a site that didn't launch, 6 months ago...) Is that it translated sentences and paragraphs beautifully, but it can't translate images (you think that would be common knowledge, but many people forget it) and it kinda fails on navigation links (for example it translated the home button to the literal word for house in French) – Tomas Reimers Jun 02 '11 at 22:03
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If it were me, I'd do it using SQL. I'd have two database tables, each with the different language content, and change the SQL call server-side based on query strings.

But the best implementation method for you depends entirely on your skills and abilities. Do you have experience designing databases and writing SQL queries? Do you have a database set up right now?

KatieK
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  • I do not have any experiences designing databases except SQLite on android (which was easy to setup, but i used it very little.) I do have some time and access to more books then I can shake a fist at. This weekend I will finalize all my front end stuff and get some static content on the page. If you think SQL will work better I will that solution. – andNoob Jun 02 '11 at 21:35