[Mediawiki-i18n] [Wikitech-l] An update on localisation in MediaWiki

[Stacey Doljack Borsody]

Well that is the crux of the matter, no?  Betawiki isn't intended for use by code monkeys, but by non-technical native speakers and others who need user-friendly tools.  I moved Tyvan localization to Betawiki expressly because their interface makes it easier for me to coordinate translations than via the php file I've been editing by hand all this time.  I can have a non-technical translator look at a URL easier than sending them a php file.  Plus, I don't need to waste my time anymore pulling teeth to commit changes.  Now they happen pretty much daily when a change has been made and I can quickly see the results during my Wikipedia usage.  So I think it has been great.  Isn't that what great software development is about?  Making tools that make lives easier?

Now if only we could get some better context documentation for each message there won't be such problematic translations.  Take for example 'editingsection' or 'editingcomment'.  The English is pretty vague and sure enough the translation was rather silly when I finally saw it in Wikipedia.  Siebrand claims it only takes 16 hours to translate the most used messages, but that's only if you know exactly what the variables in messages are and which messages are variables in other messages.

.s

Anders Wegge Jakobsen <wegge at wegge.dk> wrote:I'm a software developer, and I'm not going to confine myself to a
web interface. I fully accept that this is where the bees knees are,
so I'm not going to stand in the way of progress.
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