[sldev] Translations

[Daniel Nylander]

Alissa Sabre skrev:

> On "One string can be used at hundreds of places":

Yes. For instance, the strings "OK" (202 places) and "Cancel" (296) are
used many times.


> Zitat wrote "can", and it is true, but the decision to use a string is
> not easy in general, and is not recommended for developpers to assume
> one particular English word always translates to a same word in
> another language.

Correct. You can of course use contextual strings in gettext (probably
in other frameworks too).

Example:

<property name="foo"
          translatable="yes"
          context="context">message</property>

# Comment: Don't translate anything in front of |
msgid "context|message"
msgstr "message"


> (1) Design dialog boxes to make enough space for the longest possible
>     translation texts.  For example, when you have a 6 letter label in
>     English, just use, say, 30 letter space for the label, unless you
>     know exactly what words are used for the label in 38 major
>     languages. :-)

You can always input a comment saying that this and that is the maximum
length, if longer then you need to adjust the length.


> (3) Let translators adjust dialog box design.  This is the approach
>     Boroondas assumed.  Also, Microsoft development tools (e.g. Visual
>     Studio) take this approach.

Please don't build anything that people (translators, reviewers etc) are
forced to use costly applications. Base the solution on open standards.


> So, what should our skinning mechanism be?  I'm not sure exactly, but
> I'm happy discussing it on this list or on wiki.

Let's hope and see :-)

-- 
Daniel Nylander (CISSP, GCUX, GCFA)
Stockholm, Sweden
http://www.DanielNylander.se
info at danielnylander.se  yeager at ubuntu.com  dnylande at gnome.org