936551 - [xh] Search engine setup for Firefox for Xhosa

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Mozilla Localizations :: xh / Xhosa, defect)

Description

[Axel Hecht [:Pike]]

We want to ship Firefox with a good list of search engines for Xhosa. 

We'll do this in three phases: First, the localization team and flod (Francesco Lodolo) will look at the market for the language and come up with a good set of search providers. Ian, we'll need your input on this. The guidelines for making recommendations are found on <https://wiki.mozilla.org/L10n:Firefox/Productization>. 

We currently use this set for en-US, to which we can fall back in the case of lacking localized alternatives:
Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Amazon, eBay, Twitter, Wikipedia

After we decided on a particular search engine, flod will contact the owner and ask for permission and for specifics, like proper search flags. Ian, we'll likely need your help to at least get the owner's contact information.

Once we have a specification on what the search engines for Xhosa should look like, flod and the localization team will work on an implementation on that. flod will create and attach patches for the desired changes and get them reviewed. After a successful review, flod will land them. Ian, if you're interested, you could create the patches, too. You'd ask flod for review on those before landing.

Please don't commit any modifications in browser/searchplugins to the hg repository without a patch reviewed by flod, Stas, Axel or someone else appointed by flod. The data here is sensitive to users and our search partners, thus requiring extra care here.

The Xhosa team and flod will be driving this bug to completion.

Comment 1

[Axel Hecht [:Pike]]

We also have the opportunity to choose a different set of search plugins for the 'metro' UX for Windows 8+, but we'll likely follow what's used on desktop, so let's not bother too much about that. Just mentioning this so that we can create the right patches.

Comment 2

[ian.henderson]

These are the ones our translators are using:
•	Google
•	Firefox (sic)
•	Bing
•	Wikipedia
•	MSN (sic)
None of these is specific to isiXhosa.

Comment 3

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

Wikipedia: I see there's a http://xh.wikipedia.org, which currently holds only 158 articles. Not sure it's useful to include a searchplugin for that at this point.
Does it make sense to fallback to English or another language would be better?

What about e-commerce websites? Are eBay or Amazon popular? Are people using other websites?

Comment 4

[ian.henderson]

I guess the translators use wikipedia to search for English content, as there is so little isiXhosa stuff out there.
e-Commerce is in it's infancy in here, so eBay and Amazon are not generally known.
In the absence of more info, zu-ZA & en-ZA would be good templates.

Comment 5

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

Unfortunately we're not (yet) shipping en-ZA and zu, so they're not a good reference.

What about Twitter? Is it popular in the area?

Comment 6

[Jeff Beatty [:gueroJeff]]

(In reply to Francesco Lodolo [:flod] from comment #5)
> Unfortunately we're not (yet) shipping en-ZA and zu, so they're not a good
> reference.
> 
> What about Twitter? Is it popular in the area?

Sorry, we're shipping en-ZA on desktop, just not on mobile. And en-ZA still has p12n bugs open, so I'm not sure how much to base xh on en-ZA.

Comment 7

[ian.henderson]

Facebook is more popular than Twitter apparently.

Comment 8

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

Unfortunately Facebook, unlike Twitter, doesn't let you search content without being logged in, so it's not an option for searchplugins.

Comment 9

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

Attachment: Use Google, Bing and Wikipedia as searchplugins

Based on comment 2, use Google, Bing and Wikipedia (en-US) as searchplugins, use Metro versions where available.

Comment 10

[ian.henderson]

Comment on attachment 8338603 [details] [diff] [review]
Use Google, Bing and Wikipedia as searchplugins

Review of attachment 8338603 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

I am fine with this

Comment 11

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

Landed
http://hg.mozilla.org/releases/l10n/mozilla-aurora/xh/rev/1a7fb44beaa9

Comment 12

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

Per IRC, no review but set Metro with the same values of Firefox desktop (metro/region.properties)
http://hg.mozilla.org/releases/l10n/mozilla-aurora/xh/rev/a8246d0f5bf9