[Koha-translate] Re: [Koha-devel] Time estimate for the translation of koha

[Joshua M. Ferraro]

Hi Axel,

----- "Axel Bojer" <address@hidden> wrote:
> > As you point out, there are several methods and sources for
> translating
> > Koha. The majority of the work involves generating and translating
> > a POT file for the interface (OPAC vs Staff) 
> 
> Ok. So these are the two mentioned pot-files, I suppose, that is:
> -- css_opac.pot [472] and default_intranet.pot [2576] ?
>
> > and the version of Koha
> > that you're wanting to translate (2.2.8 vs 2.2.9 vs 3.0) and
> finally
> 
> Which file(s) is this?
> -- css_intranet* [3998]
>
> > the template/theme (in 2.2 series, there are two public themes,
> > default and npl).
> 
> Why different translations for different themes? Are'nt themes just 
> different viewes put on top of the same mainframe?
> And what are the differences?
> 
> -- default_opac* [200--205]
> -- npl_intranet* [3175]
> -- npl_opac* [507]
> could perhaps be the different theme files?
> But then again why is the npl_intranet* so much bigger?
default, npl, and css are all theme names, and themes in Koha aren't
to be confused with stylesheets. A new theme can have completely
different HTML markup. From there, each theme can have one or more
stylesheets that can change the look and feel of the theme even further.

opac is the OPAC interface, and intranet is the Staff one. The Staff
interface is larger because there are many more pages and lots more
text to translate.

> > Translations of Koha between minor version releases don't have many
> > changes, there would only be at most a few new strings or changes
> to
> > strings. So a translation of 2.2.8 will _mostly_ work for 2.2.9.
> 
> Since 2.2.9 is the latest version I don't see any point in translating
> anything other than the latest version, do you? :-)
> Also I would like to know if there are concrete planes for any new 
> versions in the near future? But since changes are not that big from one 
> version to the next (you said), I then suppose just updating fro 2.2.9
> too wathever next would be no problem :-)
> The po-files on the webpage ( 
> http://translate.koha.org/get_tables.php?lg=en&view=all ) are, I 
> suppose, also for version 2.2.9, are they not?
We're pretty close to a release of 3.0, though in the next month or so
there will be at least some changes to the HTML markup which will affect
translation. The 3.0 markup represents a fairly drastic change from the
2.2 series so I'm afraid that translations of 2.2.x won't be that useful.

The good news is that there is only one theme in 3.0, and we intend to
keep it that way for the 'official' project templates. This means that
you'll only have two POT files to contend with, one for the OPAC and
one for the Staff client. If you're not in a super hurry, I'd recommend
waiting a bit until 3.0's templates are stabilized ... once that happens
I'll be posting widely about it and updating translate.koha.org with the
new POT files so folks can start translating Koha 3.0 into their
language(s).

There's another, separate issue not mentioned yet, which is translation
of the MARC frameworks, including authorities control and bibliographic
entries (essentially, these are labels of the MARC tags and subtags that
a cataloger uses). That adds about 1,500 additional lines.

> > The purpose of translate.koha.org is to simplify the process of 
> > maintenance of the POT files. To be sure, it could use a bit more
> > maintenance. We're currently lacking an official 'translation
> > manager' for the Koha project, but I do my best in my spare time
> > to verify and add translation requests to that site.
> 
> Could you then add all the needed files for the norwegian translation? I 
> have started on the one I found there, just to have a glimpse on it
> and to see what awaits us :-)
The 2.2.x templates have about 5,000 lines IIRC. I'm happy to add an
entry for 2.2.9 to translate.koha.org. I'll also see about getting you
copies of the MARC bibliographic and authorities frameworks. Do you know
whether UNIMARC or MARC21 is preferred?

> > So ... the first thing to do is consider what version of Koha you
> > want to translate. If the 2.2.x version, you can add your
> translation
> > to translate.koha.org, or generate a POT file from 2.2.9 and
> translate
> > that. If for 3.0, the templates haven't been 100% signed off yet,
> > so it'd be best to wait until that happens before spending too much
> > time translating a POT file from that code base.
> 
> Ok. We will concider wether taking the pot files directly from the 
> tar-gz-file or using the web interface would be better, we are used to
> Kbabel, but I am testing out the ladder too :-)
> 
> BTW: Would'nt it be less work and make it easier for translators too to 
> include the questions I have asked and their answers somewehere on the
> web page, for instance on:
> http://translate.koha.org/use.php?lg=en
> or
> http://wiki.koha.org/doku.php?id=howtotranslatekoha
> (that is almost empty now)
> or
> http://wiki.koha.org/doku.php
>
> Then newcomers would not have to wonder, for long that is, about the 
> same as me :-)
It sure would be a good idea, can I take that to mean you'd be willing to
compose an add such an explanation given the appropriate access? ;-)

I won't make any bones about it, due to time constraints, I'm a lousy
translation manager ... I'd be happy to hand the job over to someone
who's got available time/resources to devote to the job.

Cheers,

-- 
Joshua Ferraro                       SUPPORT FOR OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE
President, Technology       migration, training, maintenance, support
LibLime                                Featuring Koha Open-Source ILS
address@hidden |Full Demos at http://liblime.com/koha |1(888)KohaILS