Re: i18n versus design choices

Hi Chris,
Nice to hear from you again. Apologies for not getting back to the
localization efforts, on time.

By the way, just wanted to give my opinion that I am -1 for this
change. In this particular case, though ':' seems a bit redundant, I
feel it gives a more natural look. Most of these small burdens add
some beauty to the program. I don't think our localizers take this as
a big burden anyway. However that is just my opinion.

On the other hand, I am +1 for working towards finding the ways to
enhance the translator experience and productivity, without
compromising the aesthetic aspects of AbiWord.

Thank you.
Regards,
Pradeeban.

On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 7:50 PM, Chris Leonard <cjlhomeaddress@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear AbiWord devs,
>
> I am looking at opportunities to suggest internationalization (i18n)
> enhancements that would reduce the localization burden and/or result
> in better translations for AbiWord (e.g. add developer's comments to
> some strings).
>
> One of the key questions in any such review is the extent to which
> compromises between ease of localization (e.g. reducing string count)
> and style-based design decisions will be considered.
>
> Here is one specific example.  In the Document Properties box, (see
> screenshot attached)  the strings are displayed with an appended colon
> (a style choice).  Many of these strings are also localized without
> the colon.
>
> 1A      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:2494    Title
> 1B      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:2499    Title:
> 2A      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:2382    Subject
> 2B      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:2384    Subject:
> 3A      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:1905    Publisher
> 3B      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:1907    Publisher:
> 4A      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:2031    Rights
> 4B      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:2033    Rights:
> 5A      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:843     Coverage
> 5B      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:845     Coverage:
> 6A      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:801     Contributor
> 6B      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:803     Contributor(s):
> 7A      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:987     Description
> 7B      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:990     Description:
> 8A      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:1496    Keywords
> 8B      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:1498    Keywords:
> 9A      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:1509    Language
> 9B      po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:1513    Language(s):
> 10A     po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:2031    Rights
> 10B     po/tmp/ap_String_Id.h.h:2033    Rights:
>
>
> The specific question is whether the AbiWord development team is
> willing to sacrifice a minor design element (the colon) that serves
> little real purpose (the colon does not truly serve as a meaningful
> text delimiter given the grey background and the white input box).
> The benefit to the localizer is fewer string variations to translate.
>
> This may see like a trivial example, but there are any number of other
> such possible i18n refinements that could be considered and I am
> willing to do the work to research and propose them, but only if I
> know that they will be given a fair hearing and not just dismissed as
> unacceptable compromises of cherished design elements.  I do not
> presume that every suggestion would be accepted, only that they would
> be given due consideration in the context of improving the localizer's
> contribution to AbiWord.
>
> Please let me know if it is worth my time to seek and propose such changes.
>
> cjl
>

-- 
Kathiravelu Pradeeban.
Software Engineer.
WSO2 Inc.
Blog: [Llovizna] http://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/