Currency fix

[ChrisCF]

I just popped by and saw norwegian krone defined as kr.. The proper term for the krone is

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do." The "proper term" for the Norwegian krone is whatever Norwegians in general use. The Romans were not a race of international merchant bankers and venture capitalists.

TBH, the option of customising the currency makes sense if one person wants to use their currency for onegame, but not for people that might want other people to be able to use it too. The idea of "to get this currency in your game, select these settings" sounds very sendmail-like to me. Short of the fact that someone needs to add two lines or so whenever a new currency is added (any more would be a sure sign of bad design), adding them into the code follows the principle of least effort. A little effort by a few people easily outweighs a little effort by lots of people.

/* Bah. My keyboard sucks so much. */

[KAH]

As I said earlier, the most commonly used symbol for the NOK is ",-" as in "99.99,-". However, you don't really use that when it comes to budgets, etc.

Why are you so fiercely opposed to using ISO codes? It seems you will accept anything but an ISO code simply because they are ISO codes. Has it ever struck you that you could be wrong? That it might in fact be correct to use ISO codes?

[ChrisCF]

Why are you so fiercely opposed to using ISO codes? It seems you will accept anything but an ISO code simply because they are ISO codes. Has it ever struck you that you could be wrong? That it might in fact be correct to use ISO codes?

Where there might be confusion within a single currency (e.g. Switzerland having 4 official languages, each with a different way of writing "Swiss franc") then it might be appropriate to use a neutral term like "CHF". Where the ISO code matches the official symbol for local use (as defined independently by the country's laws), then we use it. Where they don't match, you make use of the local symbol. That is part of the point of localisation. If you don't like that, then I'm sure the developers will welcome the suggestion to kill the translations completely, and insist on everyone using pounds or euros. Just don't expect them to take it seriously.

You need to revise your definition of a currency symbol. ",-" is no more a currency symbol than the English equivalent ".00".

[KAH]

Why are you so fiercely opposed to using ISO codes? It seems you will accept anything but an ISO code simply because they are ISO codes. Has it ever struck you that you could be wrong? That it might in fact be correct to use ISO codes?

Where there might be confusion within a single currency (e.g. Switzerland having 4 official languages, each with a different way of writing "Swiss franc") then it might be appropriate to use a neutral term like "CHF". Where the ISO code matches the official symbol for local use (as defined independently by the country's laws), then we use it. Where they don't match, you make use of the local symbol. That is part of the point of localisation. If you don't like that, then I'm sure the developers will welcome the suggestion to kill the translations completely, and insist on everyone using pounds or euros. Just don't expect them to take it seriously.

Why? Seriously, why? You still haven't answered my question.

You need to revise your definition of a currency symbol. ",-" is no more a currency symbol than the English equivalent ".00".

",-" is not a currency symbol as such, it's just a way of showing that a number indicates a currency. It is not equivalent to ".00", since you would write "5.00,-" or "5.86,-".

I think the easiest and best option is to leave the ISO codes in place as defaults and allow people to change it to suit themselves (which is what will happen soon, if I understand it correctly). Some people like using the proper, businesslike terms, some want to use the "man in the street" type of notation and others want to invent their own currencies. Fine, but don't start using questionable symbols as defaults.

[swiitsch]

[quote]",-" is not a currency symbol as such, it's just a way of showing that a number indicates a currency. It is not equivalent to ".00", since you would write "5.00,-" or "5.86,-". [/quote]
In Switzerland if you have 5 swiss francs and zero cents, you often see 5.- the "-" indication "00" so its like 5.00 Fr. thats obviously different from the Norwegian thing though.
I think ChrisCFs idea of localization makes sense. Using ISO codes ist loke translating the game to Esperanto, and we all just had to learn that.

[ChrisCF]

Why? Seriously, why? You still haven't answered my question.

I believe I did. If you don't believe me:

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

Using ISO codes when they are not correct in context (for our purposes, for the most part they are not) is culturally ignorant, and generally not considered good i18n/l10n technique. Bear in mind that the game is polylocalised - first you get it in your language, and then you get to play the game as if you were in another locale, with differnt currency and stock available.

",-" is not a currency symbol as such, it's just a way of showing that a number indicates a currency. It is not equivalent to ".00", since you would write "5.00,-" or "5.86,-".

Let's clear something up. In the UK, "." is the decimal separator, not the digit grouping separator. So, figures are written £4.99. IIRC, you would write "500,--" (excuse my lack of em-dash) to indicate "500 kroner, and no 1/100ths", similar to the way that here you strike through the pennies box on a deposit slip when depositing whole pounds. It might just happen that the particular method of writing a number implies currency. I have also seen it in Spain, with the ' symbol (Pts3.000'--)

In Switzerland if you have 5 swiss francs and zero cents, you often see 5.- the "-" indication "00" so its like 5.00 Fr. thats obviously different from the Norwegian thing though.

No, it's no different. It's just that in Norway they might drop the "kr" or "NOK" for convenience on occasion. Similarly as I guess that some places might drop the franc when dealing with lots of prices in one go, since "5.--" would imply that it's an amount of currency. We don't do it in the UK, unless dealing with tables and forms with separate boxes for pounds and pence.

Fine, but don't start using questionable symbols as defaults.

What makes them questionable? I work in a government department - not one form that we use employs GBP instead of £. I regularly see accounts and notices from people that have moved out of the UK, or are carrying out business in another country - some of which are photocopied from official notices issued by departments in other governments - not one form has used anything other than a localised symbol.

Find ten examples where an ISO code is used instead of a localised symbol. Examples must NOT be in the finance sector and must NOT make use of the symbol as a workaround for not having the real symbol in their character set (since having one option eliminated doesn't prove preference for the other).

[Kruz]

The following are confirmed, but not yet verified, so are probably correct:

Code: Select all

currency        | symbol
----------------------------
krona ISK       | kr
krona NOK       | kr

[/code]

Not so important but we use a kapital K in Kr.

[dominik81]

Changed it, thanks. I'll close this thread now, please use this thread instead. That way I'll only have to update the list once.