1185250 - Currency symbol for paid apps should display in front of price for some non-English locales

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Marketplace Graveyard :: Consumer Pages, defect, P3)

Description

[Ton [:Tonnes]]

Attachment: MP_currency_sign.png

The currency symbol, at least the € sign for European locales, is currently displayed after the price on the Install button, while it is displayed before the price (as it should) when viewing in en-US English. As far as I know, this should be similar to en-US for any or if not most locales, so I’m not sure where this difference originates from.

Please make the currency symbol appear in front of the price like in en-US or, if required for some locales, its position localizable.

Note that its position is not affected by the workaround to put the price between brackets as displayed in the screenshot - this is also true for locales that currently display "Install for {price}".

Comment 1

[Mark Striemer [:mstriemer]]

This was changed in bug 865358. That bug cites a Wikipedia article [1] that states that Dutch (among many other languages) should have the Euro symbol after the amount.

It seems to me that we should show 18,99 € in Dutch and €18.99 in English. Similarly, I see "Install for $2.99" in English and "Installer 2,99 $US" in French when my currency is USD.

This is handled my a localisation library on the server side and it should be using the correct separator (, or .) and currency position for each locale. We shouldn't need localisers to set this.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_4217#Position_of_ISO_4217_code_in_amounts

Comment 2

[Mark Striemer [:mstriemer]]

> This is handled my a localisation library on the server side

That should be "This is handled by a localisation library on the server side"

I checked http://www.amazon.nl/ and they list EUR 0,99 for items but they have an image on the homepage that lists 0,99 € (with the € symbol as a superscript).

The code that changed this has a comment that links to a europa article [1] and suggests avoiding the Euro symbol in HTML, so I'm assuming that's why Amazon uses EUR.

It still seems to me that what we have is correct but maybe things in the Netherlands don't normally follow what is specified as what is supposed to be used?

[1] http://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-370303.htm#position

Comment 3

[Ton [:Tonnes]]

{Before reading comment 2}

I’m sorry but that’s wrong, at least regarding symbols for Dutch and possibly most other locales.

I think bug 865358 and its outcome was interpreted as being correct because of the abbreviation "EUR", not the € symbol, which is a big difference valid for both English and Dutch (USD after, $ before the amount). The bug was also written with Spanish in mind, and ISO 4217 doesn’t seem to say much about the symbols and their placement, only the abbreviation (code), referred to as "international symbols" in [7]. So I’m afraid the server librarry is wrong at this point.

What you see now corresponds to the screenshot and is not always right, and certainly not for Europe entirely (French is an exception though).

Maybe [1] or [2] are better sources. (I say "maybe" on purpose, as Wikipedia is not an official and flawless source and prone to errors.) I think it’s even safe to say most locales use the sign in front of the amount, often as a result of former currency usage and its position (formerly e.g. ƒ 1,99 for nl). Exceptions are French, Italian, Spanish and even German. For Dutch, I’m 100% sure the format needs to be similar to English, except that a space is needed. [8]

Could this at least be changed for Dutch (if possible before July 28), albeit on the server side?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_sign#Use
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_symbol
[3] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euroteken
[4] http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/22574/where-to-place-currency-symbol-when-localizing-and-what-to-do-with-odd-symbols
[5] http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/placement-of-the-euro-symbol.1350282/
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_issues_concerning_the_euro
[7] http://taaladvies.net/taal/advies/vraag/1179/euro_eur_euroteken/ (Dutch)
[8] https://onzetaal.nl/taaladvies/advies/gradenteken-en-andere-tekens-spatie-of-niet {Dutch}

Adter reading comment 2

I wouldn’t rely on websites like Amazon or even some others, as they (no offense) have a "foreign" background to this and may not be right on international standards.

And I don’t think things here don’t normally follow what is specified. :) Your link in [1] looks somewhat right about this issue but is too generic because of local differences. Anyway, the grammar sites I use ([7], [8]) tell me more on this but again, I think this is just a misinterpretation of the €/$ vs. EUR/USD ISO 4217 way of writing, which might be covered in "Position of the ISO code or euro sign in amounts" in [1].

Comment 4

[David Durst [:ddurst]]

The library we use doesn't get everything right. If there are specific locales whose data is incorrectly implemented, please identify those here.

Anything aside from Dutch?

Comment 5

[Ton [:Tonnes]]

(In reply to David Durst [:ddurst] from comment #4)
> The library we use doesn't get everything right. If there are specific
> locales whose data is incorrectly implemented, please identify those here.
> 
> Anything aside from Dutch?

Well, looking at [6] above, it seems a number of other European locales have different rules compared to English and Dutch and I wouldn’t dare deciding for them. :) That (Wiki) page may also be a nice reference for the position but leave questions about spaces to insert, as those might not be reflected in the table. For Dutch though, "Syntax:" under "Dutch" mentions exactly how it should be for nl, so € 6,28.

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_issues_concerning_the_euro#Dutch
Also found http://taaladvies.net/taal/advies/vraag/1178 when viewing [7].

How about sticking to that page at least for the € position to check the library for locales mentioned there? Or maybe better: posting a message in e.g. mozilla.dev.l10n in order to ask localizers (whether in Europe or not) about local grammar rules for their currency symbols, and fix this in the library for once and for all?

Comment 6

[Mark Striemer [:mstriemer]]

I tried downloading the latest version of babel (2.0) and it seems to handle all of these cases including the updates we had made for bug 865358. It seems like upgrading the library should fix this.

Comment 7

[Ton [:Tonnes]]

Good news, though some "should" flag raises here. ;) Any idea when, and will this be thoroughly checked?

Btw, I noted Google Play to use the exact same format for nl (€ 6,28).

Comment 8

[Ton [:Tonnes]]

Still no change in the € symbol’s position for my locale. What is needed to fix this?
See bug 1180835 for a screenshot.

Comment 9

[Mark Striemer [:mstriemer]]

https://github.com/mozilla/zamboni/pull/3254

Comment 10

[Mark Striemer [:mstriemer]]

https://github.com/mozilla/zamboni/commit/32f88148924e0b0faa3271ebdf9c2724f305fa45