[wp-docs] Plugins list *poof*

[Matt Mullenweg]

Moshu wrote:
> should I answer that Lorelle and Matt decided to eliminate the Translation
> and Languages plugins list but didn't offer anything to replace it?

Why would you answer someone asking for help with something that doesn't 
help them?

I checked out the last version of the Translation plugins page:

http://codex.wordpress.org/index.php?title=Special:Undelete&target=Plugins%2FTranslation_and_Languages&timestamp=20070921170256

There are 14 plugins listed on there. Let's go through them:

http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/wordpress-plugin-automatic-machine-translation-for-your-blog-in-eight-languages-spanish-french-german-portuguese-italian-japanese-korean-and-chinese/

Seems to have been replaced some time ago by a "Pro" version of the 
plugin that costs $30. They also violate the WordPress GPL license:

"In short the plugin code is not GPL. We do not allow modification of 
the source-code, nor do we permit redistribution or reverse-engineering."

If I had come across this link on that page I would have immediately 
deleted it. This is the #1 thing we're promoting to people interested in 
translation and languages plugins, I suppose because it starts with an 
A? What a terrible user experience.

#2 http://kimmo.suominen.com/sw/charsets/

Seems perfectly legit, however this 9-line plugin is no longer needed in 
WordPress, it fixes a problem that has been fixed in core for 6+ months. 
  It not being there is not a big loss.

#3 
http://carlosquiles.com/indo-european-language-blog/wordpress-translation-plugin/

Another automatic translation plugin. It appears to be well-updated and 
maintained, and would be appropriate for inclusion and promotion on 
WordPress.org. It is in the plugin directory, where it appears to get 
about 50 downloads a week:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/indoeuropean-translator-widget/

(Compare finding the download link on the extend page vs the plugin 
author's page.)

#4 http://kimmo.suominen.com/sw/finquote/

This plugin fixes curly quotes for the Finnish language, seems nice and 
from the same author as #2. Does not appear in the plugin directory, but 
it should.

#5 http://jamietalbot.com/wp-hacks/gengo/

Another high quality listing, also included in the plugin directory 
where it gets about 90 downloads a week:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/gengo/

#6 http://www.gringod.com/category/software/gg_translate/

Creates links to translation services. Fine plugin, in wp-plugin.net but 
not the .org directory.

#7 
http://www.nothing2hide.net/wp-plugins/wordpress-global-translator-plugin/

Seems legit, in wp-plugins.net but not .org.

#8 http://dossier.dunker.de/intypo

Looks good, in .net but not .org.

#9 http://jakobj.dk/blog/archives/43

Good plugin, also listed in .org with about 50 downloads a week.

#10 http://poplarware.com/languageplugin.html

Looks good, not listed in either .net or .org.

#11 http://doocy.net/multilingual/

Seems fine, listed in .org, but as you can see on the .org plugin page:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/multilingual/

It hasn't been updated since 2005. Judging from the blog, it doesn't 
look like it's going to be, this is also from 2005:

http://doocy.net/archives/2005/10/12/hello-again-remember-me/

#12 http://fredfred.net/skriker/index.php/polyglot

Nice plugin, included in .org, not in .net.

#13 
http://www.24hourtrading.co.uk/blog/2007/05/01/robs-translator-wordpress-plugin-english-to-10-languages-now-ie-compliant/

Seems fine, not in .org or .net.

#14 http://www.scotthough.com/wordpress-translate/

Not in .net or .org, broken in versions of WP since 2.2. (And this 
information is not reflected on the page.)

#15 http://www.erebe.net/2006/11/17/plugin-traductor-para-wordpress/

Claims to be the same as #14 but in Spanish. Can't tell because the site 
is down. If #14 was in the .org plugin directory, the Spanish 
translation could have just been submitted as a patch.

#16 http://www.worldwidelexicon.org

Looks like an awesome project, but no presence in .net or .org.

So the transition isn't perfect. Even though some bad links are weeded 
out, there were 1 or 2 high quality plugins that aren't listed in the 
directory.

Overall, though, I think the user experience is dramatically better. You 
have a single directory with a consistent way to download, you can 
easily tell when a plugin was updated, and which versions it's 
compatible with. You can see any forum topics related to the plugin, or 
start one. You never have to worry about a site being down, and you're 
not going to follow a promising link to find a plugin that violates the 
GPL and reduces your freedoms.

Rather than complaining about a clunky list being removed, a better use 
of time would be to contact the plugin authors above who aren't on the 
directory yet and ask them to submit their plugin, or if it's GPL, offer 
to do it for them. It's about more than version control, it's about 
distribution, quality control, and a consistent interface for users.

If the plugins are in the directory but hard to find, consider 
submitting patches that improve how plugins are tagged.

> (On the "Extend" barely 5 - five - plugins are related to multilingual
> issues)

With a few trivial searches I found these:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/indic/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/multilingual-posts/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/jlanguage/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/multilingual/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/gengo/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/basic-bilingual/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/eht-translate/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/polyglot/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/scandinavian-translator/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/dutchdate/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/indoeuropean-translator-widget/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bunnys-language-linker/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/auto-translator/

There are also a ton of new plugins being added every day, in fact I 
just approved another language one that should be showing up within a 
few days.

I think pointing the forum author to some of those would be a perfectly 
fine answer to the question you posed above.

-- 
Matt Mullenweg
http://ma.tt/