Template:Igen/top

Internationalization page, used by e.g. the  and others
 * This template is used by many templates like e.g. with two parameters:
 * the short code (mostly one letter, or a few letters) like for ,
 * the default value if no code fits. To avoid the wrong use of "en" the  option is necessary.
 * often spreads short codes to different subcategories while Igen/top uses fewer names.
 * The short code defined with  is passed from  and other templates;
 * if another code should be used it can be defined with ; to just suppress the usage of   use   without a value.
 * For languages with different (like de, fr, it, pl, pt...) the names must be defined with the.
 * For languages with different (like de, fr, it, pl, pt...) the names must be defined with the.
 * For languages with different (like de, fr, it, pl, pt...) the names must be defined with the.
 * For languages with different (like de, fr, it, pl, pt...) the names must be defined with the.
 * For languages with different (like de, fr, it, pl, pt...) the names must be defined with the.

See also the talk page for a table of all codes.

The system can only display topics (f=flags, i=icons, l=logos, m=maps, ...) when a translation is provided within this template for that topic in that language. When the translation fails, the output depends on
 * when the code exists in that template, but no translation for that language, it depends on the value of parameter 2:
 * (none) an error code like "_?_" is returned (that should never happen!)
 * "~" the (always existing) English translation is returned
 * otherwise the value of parameter 2 (the standard text) is returned.
 * when the code does not exist in that template, parameter 1 is checked:
 * when it contains more than 3 characters it is displayed; otherwise it depends on the value of parameter 2:
 * (none) the untranslated value of parameter 1 is returned,
 * "~" an error code like "~?~" is returned,
 * otherwise the value of parameter 2 (the standard text) is returned,
 * and categorization to a occurs.

The skeleton is prepared, and when users want to see things in their language they ought to maintain and to expand that template. If a translation is missing in the current display language, only the standard text is shown, as it had been before.