[wp-polyglots] 2.3 Beta 1 & strings descriptions

[Nikolay Bachiyski]

2007/8/28, F Wolff <friedel at translate.org.za>:
> Op Dinsdag 2007-08-28 skryf Nikolay Bachiyski:

Hello Friedel,

> >
> > Here is an example of an incomprehensible string:
> > %1$s%2$s%3$s
> > You just don't know what the hell it means. The new approach is to
> > append a vertical bar and string clarification after the string, so
> > don't be surprised if you see a string like:
> > %1$s%2$s%3$s|1: Pages, 2: by %s, 3: matching %s
> > Thus you can both reorder the three strings and actually know what you
> > are reordering. Handy, isn't it?
>
> Not really. I probably can't use TM matching (not that relevant in this
> case), or any automated quality assurance on this translation. In fact,
> if TM matching is used, it might actually match on the part that I
> shouldn't be translating. Why don't the developers use programmer
> comments (also called automatic #. style comments) like other PO based
> projects? xgettext will usually put the comments in the source files
> above the gettext call into the #. comments of the POT file
> automatically. Alternatively you can use an option for xgettext:
>         -c, --add-comments[=TAG]
>               place comment block with TAG (or those preceding keyword  lines)
>               in output file
>
> For the specific example you mention, why isn't the message just one
> long message with everything in it? Wouldn't this kind of substitution
> break in languages with declension anyway?
>
> > Now, let's see the different contexts case:
> > &raquo;
> > Very common string, which is usually used as a button hint. However in
> > this case, it is used as a list bullet and, especially regarding
> > right-to-left languages, might need different treatment. The current
> > string for that now is:
> > &raquo;|Used as a list bullet
>
> If the issue is that the same text is used in different contexts, isn't
> the solution to use msgctxt? This ensures proper opportunities for QA,
> fuzzy matching, reuse, etc.
>
> Perhaps just as useful in this case is to tell translators in #.
> comments what "raquo" actually is. I can't imagine that everybody knows
> that.

You are absolutely right. The moment all major translating tools
support these gettext features we will start using them. The problem
now is especially with msgctxt. poEdit doesn't support it and not
every translators uses a unix system and KBabel, which does support
it. We are this hack for comments, because translators tend not to
notice #. ones.

Believe me, I also would like us to take advantage of the full-fledged
gettext features. However, we want to allow various translators to do
their job as efficiently as possible, regardless of technical
limitations.

>
> If we really, really need to stuff the msgid with context information,
> why don't we at least use one of the existing schemes like the ones used
> before in KDE? At least some translation tools tried to support it.

Could you elaborate in this schemes. The one we have adopted is being
used by Gnome.

Happy translating,
Nikolay.