2 problems: Language change? and no-resize of windows

[Erwin Moller]

Hi,

I have 2 problems with Vista I hope somebody can help me with.
(Don't advise me to get Ubuntu, I already run that but need Vista too)

Problem1: Language:
After making the mistake of buying the Dutch version of Vista Home
Premium, I discovered it is impossible to let Vista talk english to me.
From what I read (also in here) I get the impression only Ultimate can
change language.
Is this correct?

I looked at Windows Vista Language Interface Pack (LIP).
http://www.microsoft.com/industry/publicsector/government/locallanguage/default.aspx

But it seems I can get Zulu, Farsi, and general African, etc, but NO
english.
Did M$ really decide to support to switch language to Zulu, but NOT to
english?
Is this for real or do I miss something important here?


Problem2: Sizes of windows
Maybe this is related to my Dutch version, not sure (see problem 1).
I have a lot of windows that contain text that is NOT readable because
it doesn't fit in the place.
I think some areas are designed for english, and dutch text is sometimes
longer. (Actually most of the time because dutch is a retarded language.)

A resize of the window would be nice, but many windows do not allow a
resize.
eg: msconfig, some stuff in IIS, etc.
Does anybody know of a way to fix this?


Thanks for your time.

Regards,
Erwin Moller

 

[Chad Harris]

Hi Erwin--

Let's get this clear up front. I'll go over your language change options,
but if you want complete and thorough English, you are not going to
magically transform that Dutch version to English with any of the Vista
language patch options. If you have the appropriate edition you can try
them and see if they change enough for you, but my advice is you're going to
have to buy an English version.

We simply do not have the magic wand that transforms language of an entire
OS. Here's your options, and they are only partial resolutions:

There are two types of language files--and both are partial but either may
be what you're looking for. MUI available only in Vista Ultimate and
Enterprise are the most extensive--but LIP are available for any edition of
Vista. I'm not sure which Vista you have--but you may want to look into
these:

How do I get additional language files?
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/35a1b021-d96c-49a5-8d8f-5e9d64ab5ecc1033.mspx

If you have Enterprise or Ultimate you can look into MUI. But even if you
don't, you can download the LIP files, and see if they will do the job for
you. LOL I don't know how fluent you might be in Japanese either.

LIP files can be downloaded from here:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=66923

http://www.microsoft.com/industry/government/locallanguage/default.aspx

""Because not all of the user interface is translated, LIPs require at least
one parent language. The parts of the user interface that are not translated
into the LIP language are displayed in the parent language. When you
download a LIP, you are given the parent language requirements for that
language. The parent language pack needs to be installed before the LIP can
be installed."

If you do try either of them, let us know how they work for you.
____

Size of Windows is not at all related to your Dutch version of Windows.
You can approach this several ways and see what works.

1) One way to rheostat text size in any version of Windows is to go to on
your IE toolbar:

Tools>Options>Accessability>Ckmark in "Ignore Fonts Sizes on Specified Web
Pages" and holding down your Ctrl key and use your middle mouse key to dial
font size up and down.

2) You can see what you can do with View>Text size>but that's probably not
going to solve your problem.

3) Window resizing in Windows is not perfect, but in my view, here's the
best you can do: Pop-unders now can reset window size, so you may need to
repeat this from time to time. Pop-unders (many of them) can skate by any
Pop-up blocker whether it's Vista's IE7 or the Google toolbar.

Hit Ctrl+N and make another Window. Manually resize the child window to the
desired size,and close it from anywhere while holding down the Ctrl key.

Do the same to the parent window. Memory should cause the size to stick
until the next pop-under upsets the apple cart.

Good luck,

CH


"Erwin Moller"

 

[Erwin Moller]

Hi Erwin--

Hi Chad,

Thanks for your response.

Let's get this clear up front. I'll go over your language change
options, but if you want complete and thorough English, you are not
going to magically transform that Dutch version to English with any of
the Vista language patch options. If you have the appropriate edition
you can try them and see if they change enough for you, but my advice is
you're going to have to buy an English version.

I wouldn't mind to have a halfbaked english version.
Problem is that I am a programmer/sysadmin and all the stuff on the net
is written in english.
Making 'best guesses' all the time WHAT the dutch word is is... well
very tiresome and errorprone.

We simply do not have the magic wand that transforms language of an
entire OS. Here's your options, and they are only partial resolutions:

There are two types of language files--and both are partial but either may
be what you're looking for. MUI available only in Vista Ultimate and
Enterprise are the most extensive--but LIP are available for any edition of
Vista. I'm not sure which Vista you have--but you may want to look into
these:

quoting myself:
I have Home Premium, so no MUI for me. :-(

How do I get additional language files?
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/35a1b021-d96c-49a5-8d8f-5e9d64ab5ecc1033.mspx

Yes, been there.
I couldn't find ENGLISH, much to my frustration. Zulu: yes, English: No.

If you have Enterprise or Ultimate you can look into MUI. But even if you
don't, you can download the LIP files, and see if they will do the job for
you. LOL I don't know how fluent you might be in Japanese either.

LIP files can be downloaded from here:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=66923

http://www.microsoft.com/industry/government/locallanguage/default.aspx

Yes, been there: no english.

""Because not all of the user interface is translated, LIPs require at
least
one parent language. The parts of the user interface that are not
translated
into the LIP language are displayed in the parent language. When you
download a LIP, you are given the parent language requirements for that
language. The parent language pack needs to be installed before the LIP can
be installed."

If you do try either of them, let us know how they work for you.

I wish I could. :-(
I am not afraid of trying.
I just need an enlish LIP, but cannot find it on the abovementioned sites.
Have a look yourself. No english lip.

____

Size of Windows is not at all related to your Dutch version of Windows.
You can approach this several ways and see what works.

1) One way to rheostat text size in any version of Windows is to go to
on your IE toolbar:

IE?
I don't use IE. Way too unsafe for my taste.
says a Vista user. ;-)

Tools>Options>Accessability>Ckmark in "Ignore Fonts Sizes on Specified
Web Pages" and holding down your Ctrl key and use your middle mouse key
to dial font size up and down.

But I was NOT talking about webpages.
I was talking about core Vistaparts, like msconfig.
Just parts of Vista.

2) You can see what you can do with View>Text size>but that's probably
not going to solve your problem.

3) Window resizing in Windows is not perfect, but in my view, here's
the best you can do: Pop-unders now can reset window size, so you may
need to repeat this from time to time. Pop-unders (many of them) can
skate by any Pop-up blocker whether it's Vista's IE7 or the Google toolbar.

Hit Ctrl+N and make another Window. Manually resize the child window to
the desired size,and close it from anywhere while holding down the Ctrl
key.

Do the same to the parent window. Memory should cause the size to stick
until the next pop-under upsets the apple cart.

But I am having no problems with IE, since I don't dare to visit the net
with IE. (I am a happy FF user)

Good luck,

CH

Thanks for your response.
But both my problems still stand. :-(

Regards,
Erwin Moller

 

[Paul Randall]

Hi, Erwin
Thank goodness I don't have all the frustrations you have to put up with.
This fixed window size problem is something that has frustrated me for many
years. I blame it on the ignorance of youth and corporate arrogance. The
youthful designers at M$ cannot imagine the machines we actually try to run
their software on (not always state of the art). They can't imagine the age
and imperfections of our eyes. They blindly follow the mantra of style over
substance. They cannot imagine that a vision impaired person would actually
want or love an ugly display that they can read with ease. They can't
imagine that fonts in another language might not fit. They can't think out
of the style box. In reality, most of the world lives out of their style
box.

I believe that most windows should be resizeable with the fields inside
resizing as the window resizes, and with font size being scalable. Problem
solved, probably without bloating the OS too much, but perhaps requiring the
rework of many utilities.

-Paul Randall

"Erwin Moller"