Hello again, denizens and wanderers of the spongiform alleys.
It is time again for the exercise in asking-silly-questions also known as the SpongeDocs Quiz. We hope to get some useful feedback from the various parts of the Sponge community, and the three questions this week range widely in nature. Feel free to give some brief details on your experiences, good or bad, and keep on keepin’ on.
Should the Default Language for SpongeDocs be English?
The link to SpongeDocs could have a default language (ie. English). Detail of this proposal, including suggested options for alternative default languages can be found in the relevant Docs issue [Here]
(Go to navigator.language by default · Issue #302 · SpongePowered/SpongeDocs · GitHub).
Do you use Java 6?
Outdated and at EOL (end-of-line), Minecraft, Forge and Sponge still build against Java 6 for legacy reasons. We’re particularly interested in seeing if anyone here does still use Java 6, and why.
Is the built-in Sponge server setup useful to you?
The Sponge command line setup (eg. java -jar sponge.jar go etc, featured on this page), is intended to make it easier to set up and run a SpongeForge server. Has this feature been helpful, or more trouble than it’s worth for you?
Nothing here is binding in any way on the SpongeDocs or Sponge Project, this is just a wild rambling discussion and does not intend to represent the aims or objectives of the Overlords (may they slumber peacefully). As always, input is always welcome, opinions may vary, milestones turn to millstones, and the fridge is full of penguins.
The majority of countries know at least limited English so having it as the default sounds good. Being able to change the language on the fly would be good too. The proposal seems like a fantastic idea to me
Only updated to JDK8 once it reached u40 but i write against a J7 env for backwards compat to where IMO it is required. At this point there seems to be no point or need to still support J6 as outdated OSX users can update to a version with J7+ support for free (ie 10.6.8+ to 10.10+).
At some point i may use it if i am short on time or want a quick setup but i like control so i enjoy installing forge and dropping the sponge jar in the mods folder
I’d like a feature where it will choose the language based on your browser’s locale. It will automatically redirect to your language and there would be a selection (top right) to manually select one.
If someone shares a link using English (/en/) and the visitor’s locale is different, it would show a message on a bar at the top saying “Also available in X language” where they can then click on it.
I have JRE 7 and JDK 7. I’ll update to 8 soonTM. However I have to build Sponge targeting Java 6, and any plugins/mods I write will target Java 6 for as long as Sponge/Forge does.
Never used it, probably won’t. Setting up A Forge server is trivial work and dropping Sponge.jar is even easier.
Absolutely YES!
BUT: i’d love to see an easy possibility to change the language like for ex. on wikipedia (a little menu to allow quickchanging on every page).
i use Java 8x64 only, but as long as Minecraft supports JRE6 we should do it too. I hope that mojang ships their own JRE version in the near future.
used sponge.jar -go but there may be diffuculties with dedicated servers/hosters which expect a forge.jar (eg. MCMA 2). There i’d setup a forge server myself and drop the sponge cormod in manually.
FYI: On the topic of question 2, Mojang plans to have a Mac/Linux launcher with bundled Java in a month, so that’ll mean they’re updating to 8 hopefully.
Engrish seems to be generally a default language. I do like Simon’s idea of detection as well.
Java 1.8 on all my platforms. Seems like a few plugins require it and devs tend to like it. From what Ive heard in various communications.
The built in installer is nice, anything that makes it easier for the end user is helpful. For me I install forge then put sponge in the mods folder, but thats just what Im used to doing.
Mcma is becoming amp and it uses a minecraft module. A future release of amp is going to have sponge support. You can check out @PhonicUK s thread for more details
Even though Chinese is the most commonly spoken language in the world, it is not the most accessible. The Minecraft Community is predominately composed of “Western” players (As stated on this page: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-demographics-of-Minecraft-players [More stats are always appreciated]), hence we should use a language that is most accessible to this demographic.
What needs to be determined is the Lingua Franca for those demographics. English is commonly used as said lingua franca online, however Spanish, German and French all have large communities, so that should also be taken into account.
There is no prospect of Sponge and Forge merging. Sponge is an optional coremod, and will almost certainly remain so. The closest we get to that is having the convenience of running Sponge.jar to install a forge server environment for itself, which is the feature I’m seeking opinions on.
Adding to the point i made above and to this
Yes there are numerically more Chinese speaking people in the world (if you combine both dialects), however there are more countries that speak at least a little English making it a better choice as people can then change language easier
Should the Default Language for SpongeDocs be English?
Considering that most of our documentation writers who understand Java are either native English speakers, or understand it well enough to fake it, I believe it should be. The day that that changes, and it takes more effort to have the default language be in English than some other, I’ll change my mind.
Do you use Java 6?
Nope! All of my publicly released plugins are built against - and compatible with - Java 7. My private work is built against Java 8. In my opinion, the benefits of using Java 6 for the very few of those who still use it, does not warrant the extra effort needed to work with it.
Is the built-in Sponge server setup useful to you?
To be honest, I believe it should be the recommended method. I know the arguments against this, however I believe that the number of issues that we receive which could easily be solved by having someone run the server via the command line, far outweigh those arguments.
Isn’t it possible to send a site of a certain
language based off of the language of the user? I remember watching HTTP classes through pluralsight and I thought something like this was possible. If not, english with an option to change.
I use java 8 and statistics collected show a vast server majority of java 7 (including year-old statistics). So java 6 is very close to becoming as relevant as 5.
