[TYPO3-translators] Info about new translations?

[Christian Hennecke]

On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:31:14 +0100, Steffen Kamper wrote:

Hi!

>> It just came to my mind that I don't know how changes and additions to
>> translations are announced to the public. Can somebody please fill me
>> in?
>>
>> If there currently is no such "process," I think we need one:
>>
>> - Translators of extensions not on the translation server need to be
>> informed about (changes to) the common vocabulary,
>>
>this should be organized by translators themselfes. The Wiki is the right 
>place to document it.

Well, is there anything that tells translators to have a look at this
wiki? I don't think so. At least,
http://typo3.org/extensions/translators/ should point to it. Who can
add that link?

>> - admins should know when new translations or improvements are
>> available for the languages they use on their sites,
>>
>Why? They should update translations in EM from time to time.
>Ok, this can be optimized in a way.

Two problems:

- "From time to time" is rather unspecific. What is the optimum
frequency? It also depends on what you are doing with your TYPO3
installation.

- Admins may decide not to update to a new extension version for some
reason (bugs, whatever). Updating the translation could give
unpredictable results.. So how does an admin know if he should update
the thing or not?

>> - writers need to know if they need to update their books and articles,
>published books are not changable. This is like all things in computer 
>world: screenshots are outdated very soon.

You know, there are such things as new editions of the same book, and
people who have written a TYPO3 4.0 book certainly won't start from
scratch for one that deals with 4.2. And don't forget the official
TYPO3 docs and videos.

>> - trainers need to know if something is available in their customers'
>> language or they need to update their training material, and
>>
>trainers normally update there knowledge by doing or with new releases, i 
>don't see a need for this.

Small changes are quite easy to overlook... Open Source Software can
only compete with its commercial counterparts if high-quality support
is available. It's pretty easy for the translators to support trainers
in providing it.

>> - those responsible for selecting a suitable CMS for a project need to
>> know if something is available in the users' language.
>>
>
>There is a overview in which lnguage translations exist, nothing more is 
>relevant.

Excuse me??? Suppose you decide to implement a project with TYPO3 and
later find out that a required extension is not available in the
language(s) you need. Guess what can happen to the time-frame and
budget!

>Don't forget this is a open source community. It's impossible to 
>"overorganize" things like you do in a commercial project. So everyone in 
>the community does his work with individual responsibility. Communication is 
>the most important thing, and this is done here in this lists. Interested 
>people are reading and know whats going on.

*blinks with disbelieve*

#include <rant.h>

Sorry, but this attitude is exactly what has kept Open Source Software
from being taken seriously for ages. This is "shooting yourself in the
foot" by alienating potential users and people who want to help, and
wasting resources galore. What happened to me when I wanted to help
translating is a prime example for this: Hard to find information on
how to help, and then nobody reacts in this list when I first offered
my contributions. I can tell you that I was *very* short of saying
"Well, if you don't want help... I can think of more pleasant things to
do..." Yeah, let's make it as hard as possible for people to use TYPO3
and help. That will certainly help to bring it forward.

#exclude <rant.h>

That said, all that's required for a substantial improvement is:

- optionally create a new news category at news.typo3.org

- add information to typo3.org that tells people to subscribe to a
certain feed, and make it easy to find

- collect changes to translations

- post a message about the changes via news.typo3.org every, say, week,
two weeks, month.

And voilà, many more happy campers around.

"Overorganize"... Jeez...

Christian Hennecke