Language toggle

The language toggle pattern creates a way to toggle the entire interactive to a different language.


Te Papa provides written content for all digital interactives in Te reo Māori and English.

Language toggle

Figure: Thelanguage-toggle component creates a simple way to display which languages are available (Māori and English) and allows users to switch from any screen with one touch.

Key features of the language-toggle component are:

  • Māori should appear first (on the left), followed by English.
  • The current convention is to place the language-toggle in the top right of the interactive in alignment with the Home button (if present).
  • The language-toggle should be present on most, if not all, pages. An exception to this convention might be on a fullscreen Gallery or Image Zoom page. Using the component on such a page would detract from the fullscreen design. These pages are likely to be nested within a page on which the toggle was present.
  • Selecting a language should change the language on the current page (in other words, this should not change the page itself or return the interactive to Home, but should only change the language being displayed).

You might also be interested in the Gloss component (inserting definitions of words into paragraph tet) and UI control names (Māori and English names for UI controls).

Language toggle

Figure: An example of the language-toggle component in use on the Te Pahi Medal interactive, located in the top right of the screen.

If more langugages are required, other options might need to be explored to avoid cluttering the interface.