I was surprised at the route the core team took - for the last 3-4 years I was expecting them to do the per module method, not the duplicate page method.

I analyzed both methods about a year ago and duplicating pages on large sites that use many query strings and dynamic pages/modules etc. just did not seem practical/efficient - it would require a lot of time to set up whereas the per module route seemed to have much less impact in terms of number of pages and "simpleness". It seems that you end up with x * the amount of pages you have on your site for every language you enable, which seems like overkill. Editing content is a lot harder as you have to go to each page instead of just changing the text for a language string for each culture. The content is not side by side so errors could slip in where you have mixed content and html/design - I think the language string abstraction was cleaner.

However, I can see why they went that route - for small sites and fairly static sites it is much easier (and therefore less support calls) to implement and it is architecturally sound (I was just surprised that absolutely none of this was discussed with the community but perhaps I missed blog posts or team updates - it honestly came as a complete surprise.

So, moving forward, this leaves a fantastic opportunity for a commercial module to fill the gap on the per module method - I would rather pay and have an actively developed module/roadmap/support than base my whole architecture/content on a free module.

For my site (over 100 pages and mostly dynamic content/page generation based on querystrings) I think the best solution would be a module like the mHTML module coupled with URLMaster 2.0 which handles the redirecting based on locale. I do need to upgrade to 5.5 and double check that this is indeed the case (I have never had much luck upgrading my site ;(

Who is going to step forward and fill the gap?

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I've just heard from Locopon, and he's currently running test on DNN5.5 to see if he will continue support of DSlocaizator.....My hope is that he will.

Back to the subject under discussion, my view is that DNN5.5 is a nice kick in the bum for us!!....It's not ready, but the fact we have a button to turn it on or not, gives me hope that the guys at DNN understand this!!..(And by the way, welcome to the “not so easy as you first think” land of multiple languages)

The multiple pages direction, I can understand for SEO and basic separation and work-flow during translation. The problem is that this gives a massive amount of works for those of us who haven't got a full time translation team working on it. It also makes creating a multiple language website SLOW...and therefore far more costly. Although I've only scratched the surface of DNN5.5 I'll list the things I feel need attention, just in case someone wants to listen...(I'm not listing bugs,just operational stuff!!)

• Copy of Modules must have an option to carry permissions across all language.

• Re-do copying of module across languages with new only or overwrite option.

• Tab names should stay the same...don't put the (fr-FR) on the end. Although this is a personal preference....maybe an option setting.

• A single list of tab names (and maybe module names) that can be entered on one page and then updated in one go without having to go into each page setting. (batch edit option!)

• Page permissions and setting need to be copied across languages. Maybe even an option to have linked page settings, so some settings work across all languages.

Of course this is just off the top of my head, thinking about the things I didn't like when I tested DNN5.5. So please don't anyone be to judgemental!! I'm sure the solution to these also give problems elsewhere, but my point is that I MUST be able to create and maintain CL in DNN quickly.....doesn't have to be easy...just QUICK!!...Although quick usually comes with easy!.

The CL in DNN, is a great base to start from and I'm sure it can be turned into something we all need., it just need more work.

Regards,

Dave.