0.13.28 — language from the account

An account in a bilingual instance is one for both versions — the same database, the same login. Until now, however, it did not remember which language the reader reads in. Someone who created an account in English and then opened the site from a bookmark or a link landed in the Polish version and had to switch language every time.

Since 0.13.28 the account gets the language of the version it was created in. After that, every deliberate switch — in the account menu or in the bar offering the other version — is saved as the new preference. A signed-in reader who enters a version other than the saved one lands on the counterpart of the same page in theirs: the same entry, the same series, the home page for the home page.

Three safeguards. The redirect happens only if the counterpart exists — an entry from an untranslated series stays put instead of leading to a 404. At most one redirect every few seconds, so there is no way to loop. And saving the preference never holds up navigation for more than a fraction of a second.

The browser language still decides nothing. The preference comes only from the reader's choice — the version they created the account in and their clicks on the switch — and a reader without an account sees what is at the address they opened.