Topic on Talk:Global templates/Proposed specification

@Bouzinac added the following in the "Localizing parameter names" section:

It should be possible to use aliases. Eg "date" in enwiki, "data" in itwiki, "Дата" in ruwiki. Either "first" parameter names or aliased names should be working.

I am moving it here for discussion. Perhaps I don't understand the suggestion, but isn't this already what the "Localizing parameter names" idea is about in general? The current proposal is:

These generic parameter names will be the common default names. They will work in wikis in all languages. The localized names will work in the wikis that has that language as its content language.

According to this, "date" will work in English, Italian, and Russian wikis, "data" will work only in Italian, and "Дата" will work only in Russian.

As far as I can see, using a Russian parameter name in Italian or English is probably not so desirable. Using an English parameter in Russian is also not so desirable, but it's just a default fallback. If the parameters are localized in the template definition, then every time a transclusion is transferred from one wiki to another, the service described in the "Automatic parameter translation" section will translate them automatically.

@Bouzinac, does this sound OK, or do you suggest doing something else when you talk about aliases?

Hello, well, ok. Then, do you mean it is only possible to use "English" words to use for variable names, so OK you can revert my aliases paragraph...

Not exactly. Definitely not only English. I'm just saying that English should be the default and work everywhere if it's not translated, and translation should be allowed into all languages.

My biggest question for you is what do you mean by "aliases". Currently, each template works within one wiki, and each parameter can have several aliases in TemplateData. Sometimes they are in the same language, and sometimes they are in a different language; for example, the French Wikipedia can define parameter names in the French language, and add aliases in English. It is done consistently.

For the future, when templates can be shared by all wikis, I suggest the following:

• Each parameter has a default name. It will probably be in English, but this won't be forced; it will in any language in which the template developers want to write it. This default name will work in all wikis in all languages.
• It will be possible to translate every parameter to any language. The translated name will work in wikis in that language. So, the Russian translated name will work in the Russian Wikipedia and Russian Wikisource, but not in the English Wikipedia or Italian Wikipedia. I don't call these translations "aliases"; I call them "translated parameter names".
• There will be a service that automatically translates parameter names between languages. For example, imagine this template in the English Wikipedia: {{Infobox event|name=Storming of the Bastille|date=1789-07-14}}. If you copy this template to the Russian Wikipedia, it will be automatically changed to {{Событие|название=Storming of the Bastille|дата=1789-07-14}}. Note that the parameter values are not translated in this example, and the editor will have to do it manually. Such a thing may become possible some day, but that would be a different feature. But the parameter names will be translated automatically, and the editor won't have to look them up one by one.
• Aliases, as they are used TemplateData, will keep working without change.

Does this make sense?