Simon Voortman contacted me about translating the web site to Dutch. At
the moment we have the same problem as with the old site; it's not easy to
keep the translations in sync.
He's proposing a Messages like system for making master web pages with
tokens for each bit of content which are replaced by the relevant
translation of the associated text to build the web pages.
See his message below.
Any ideas / comments?
Michael
------ Forwarded message ------
From: Simon Voortman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 11 Sep 2008 0205
Subject: Dutch translation of NetSurf
Hi Michael,
Summer's over, NetSurf 2.0 is (slowly) coming along, so it's probably time
to
move along with the Dutch translation, to be ready before NS 2.0.
It's been a while that you haven't heard of us.
Partly that's due to the summer: Gerard lives on a boat, and I haven't
seen or
spoken him since around June.
Another reason was the restructuring of the HTML-pages (which you guys did
before the summer).
Gerard was very disappointed by that, because it wasn't obvious what parts
had
changed and what not. It seemed like he had to do all his work over again!
I, too, must say translating HTML pages is not one of my favourite
activities,
because you have to wade through the HTML code to find the parts which
must
be translated, and it's all too easy to change the layout of the resulting
page by accident. Plus, you cannot easily do a diff against an older
version
and expect a sensible result.
So, why don't you guys separate the HTML pages into pure HTML with some
placeholders to insert the translated text into? Something like RISC OS
uses
when you translate applications with a Messages file?
Then, you could just make one (master) HTML page and, by using different
language files, produce the translated HTML page. Like:
HTML + placeholders --\
+ (build proces) ---> translated HTML
language files -------/
So, instead of:
<html>
<head>
<title>NetSurf | RISC OS Development Builds</title>
</head>
<body>
<li><a href="/about/">About NetSurf</a></li>
<li><a href="/downloads/">Downloads</a>
Make it like:
<html>
<head>
<title>NSRODEVBUILDS</title>
</head>
<body>
<li><a href="/about/">ABOUT</a></li>
<li><a href="/downloads/">DOWNLOADS</a>
Then, make Messages files with the following content:
English:
NSRODEVBUILDS: NetSurf | RISC OS Development Builds
ABOUT: About NetSurf
DOWNLOADS: Downloads
Dutch:
NSRODEVBUILDS: NetSurf | RISC OS ontwikkel versies
ABOUT: Over NetSurf
DOWNLOADS: Bestanden ophalen
When building a new version of NetSurfs translated pages, have the tokens
like 'NSRODEVBUILDS' replaced by their translation to make the translated
HTML pages.
Please note: This should be a separate usable tool, as it's also
invaluable
for us translators to make and test new translations!
Now, you can run diffs between Message file versions and get a sensible
result!
Another advantage is: You can restructure the master HTML page to your
heart's
content, without worrying about the translated pages layout lagging behind
(or doing that [the restructuring on the translated pages] yourself), as
that's automatic then - the translated parts remain translated, and new
strings (should) show up in English.
And, since a Messages file is not position-dependent, you can make a
distinction between already and yet-to-be-translated parts (by moving the
latter to e.g. the top or the end of the file), making translation easier.
Well, I'm eager to hear your thoughts about the above!
In case that the above is not going to happen (fast), I would like to hear
what files we should begin to translate to get the Dutch translation
underway.
Cheers,
Simon.
------ End forwarded message ------
--
Michael Drake (tlsa)
http://www.smoothartist.com/
