Jun
23
2010
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Can you tell a KeyCap from a MenuChoice?

If so, UserBase needs you.  What we need is not so much geek as bulldog determination.  For our wikis to be really useful in the long run they need to keep to guidelines that will enable them to be used with translation tools – both for localization and for translation to docbook.  Working with our translators we have produced a short guide to which all pages should, in time, adhere.  Since we have so many pages I propose that we tackle small groups at a time, editing them thoroughly, so that they can be marked for translation.  You will find the first four groups on the Translation Workflow page.

If you have a little time to spare while waiting for your application to build, we could really use it – we are looking for long-term benefit.

By the way –

Written by annew in: Uncategorized | Tags: , ,
Jun
10
2010
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Fast-moving progress with Page Translation

There has been a remarkably fast take-up of the new system, as shown by this graph:

Inevitably we have met a few glitches.  The developers have already fixed a few problems for us, but some of the problems need an awareness when preparing pages for translation.  For the moment we would ask you to read http://userbase.kde.org/Translation_Workflow regularly, to see if new points have been added, and to follow the discussions of other issues on the associated Discussion page.

Soon we will distill the feedback into a Best Practices page, similar to our guidance on PageLayout.  With rapid feedback from translators and the extension developers this should be available in just a few days.

To get a translator account, please email me with your UserBase username, and mention the language(s) you will be using.

Written by annew in: Uncategorized | Tags: , ,
Jun
08
2010
8

Are you joining the Translation army?

Just a reminder – if you are going to trans late in UserBase you need to

  • request addition to the Translator group
  • when you have confirmation, open the page Special:LanguageStats/your-country-code to see which pages need your attention
  • Please don’t use the redlinks in the old language bar – those pages will be lost when migration is complete.
  • Those in the Translation group should be able to see “Translate this Page” on any page that has been prepared.  That link takes you to the page where you choose your language.
Written by annew in: KDE | Tags: , , ,
Jun
08
2010
2

Finally! TranslateWiki is here!

After almost a year of planning we now have the TranslateWiki facility on UserBase!  What difference does that make?  A lot!  For a start, it means a completely new way of working, if you’ve been one of our faithful on-line translators.  It takes a little getting used to, but it has big advantages for the future, and will, in the long run, save you a lot of work.  To explain how, I need to tell you something about its capabilities first.

You can translate a page on-line – more than that, you can translate part of a page and it will happily tell you next time you visit which sections you still need to translate.
You can export a page to a gettext file, allowing you to work with Lokalize or other translation tool.
Because gettext is an option, you can export for use in building a docbook version.

Producing a Manual

A manual can be written on UserBase as a page or set of pages.  When complete it is marked for translation, and a script (currently in preparation) will pass it to the l10n team who will then use the same framework as they currently do for creating docbook manuals.

Off-Line Translations

A similar workflow will be used by i18n translators. Initially their off-line translations will be checked out from SVN to another location, where it can be imported by one of the UserBase team.  As things settle down the off-line translators will be able to do their own imports.

How Does it Work?

Basically, what happens is that the author of a page adds tags which are recognised by TranslateWiki as marking it ready for translation.  TranslateWiki then prepares paragraphs into sections for translation, and sets up a link to the Translate page.  From there you can choose your export or on-line translation and the language you want to work with if you are translating on-line.
If you don’t have time to complete a page, only the remaining sections will be presented for translation next time you visit.
Of course, to get smooth working you ideally want everything prepared from the start, and UserBase has two years-worth of input which needs migrating.

Migration

One obvious question is “What happens to the translations already done for UserBase?”  The work isn’t lost, but can’t be used in that form, because TranslateWiki wouldn’t be able to track it for changes.  That means that we need a determined effort to migrate those translations.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is that you don’t need to be proficient in a language to help.  If you can read enough of a language to determine whether a paragraph matches the English one you are working on, you can simply copy and paste.  We will add an explanation of the process to http://userbase.kde.org/Translation_Workflow – which is started but will be expanded as questions are asked.  Meanwhile, if you can spare a few minutes at odd times there are some smaller tasks at http://userbase.kde.org/Translation_Workflow#Migration which, if done before migration starts, would greatly speed things up.
Come and talk to us on #kde-www.  Take the opportunity to find your way around the system, then join up when we announce the ‘Big Bang’ to migrate as many pages as possible in an agreed time-space.
Written by annew in: KDE | Tags: , , ,

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