hi, On Tue, 2008-06-03 at 14:52 -0500, Joshua Facemyer / Impressus Art wrote: Thanks Joshua for the invitation to give some detail on the translation workflow :) I think I should break this down to a simple explanation and then I have included some additional information for those that wish to understand more of the technical details and have a better 'meta' overview of how it all works. So first the simpler overview - there are really three components: * side by side translation * version tracking of original source vs translation * status tagging FM has a very simple but effective translation interface. The interface shows a side by side view of the original vs the translation. The original is 'read only', and the translated view is a WYSIWYG editor. This means you can see the original and translation in one view and there is no need to switch between document windows. You can have a sneak peak at one of our chapters as viewed in the side by side interface here: http://fa.flossmanuals.net/bin/xchangetranslate/Firefox/Introduction When you view the translation window you always see the same version of the chapter you are translating against. So if the original version is updated you will also always see the version that you had originally chosen. However, there is also a drop down menu that enables you to see newer versions of the original if they are available. Newer versions simply load inside the page without refreshing anything so it does not interrupt your translation session. When you decide to save your translation you can also decide to change the status of the document. Each chapter is marked with either 'translated', 'untranslated', or 'published'. We will also add 'to be proofed' and 'proofed' to this. This is a simple status tag so that contributors can see where in the workflow the material resides, and what should happen next. That is the simple explanation! You can also read a little more and see some screen shots here: http://en.flossmanuals.net/FLOSSManuals/XchangeTranslate ok...so stop there if you only wanted those details, if you wish to learn more about the mechanics and concept behind this process then read on. FLOSS Manuals (FM) is building a network of language communities. Each language community has its own localised install of the FM platform (we base everything on TWiki which we have extended with our own plugins - these are released GPL to the TWiki repository). This platform is used by the community for the development of new material in their own language and translation of material from other language versions of FM. FLOSS Manuals has built a wiki exchange tool which enables the transfer of content between the different language platforms/communities. This enables a community to import manuals in different languages and place them in a translation work flow. So, if I am working in the French FLOSS Manuals I can view material from the other languages and import the manuals/chapters I want into the translation workflow. You can see a little information about this tool ('Xchange') our own manual: http://en.flossmanuals.net/FLOSSManuals/XchangeIntro When content is imported into the translation workflow it is (usually) marked with 'untranslated'. This will then give the option for contributors to choose the translation view when contributing to chapters. The translation view is what I described above. The translation side by side view shows the original in an ajax iframe and hence it is viewed 'remotely' - pulled in from the original language node of FLOSS Manuals. This means we can track changes in the original and notify the translator that there has been an update that they may wish to look at. For the technically minded : We store all material in xml (xhtml) and we use HTML Tidy on the backend to keep the sources clean. We use Xinha WYSIWYG editor because it is clean, modular, stable, and offers some interesting language translations. We were happy to find, for example, that the Xinha interface has mostly been translated to Farsi which helped a lot for the building of our Farsi FLOSS Manuals (launching at the end of June). Lastly, the xchange plugin uses RSS for the transfer of content between the different languages which also means it is ripe and ready for syndication of content (eg enabling users to subscribe to manuals and updates). Currently we are also building a simple tool for word lists of technical terms. This will enable translators to choose a language and context and add items to the list or insert agreed translated terms into the content by simply choosing the original term from a drop down list. The use and definition of the translation terms will be up to each community and discussed through mailing lists. So, our aim is to build an extensive network of FLOSS Manuals localised communities. Each producing their own original content which others can then translate. Our first implementation is a Farsi version of FLOSS Manuals and we are planning other languages to follow this up in quick succession. However first we wish to go through the process of getting Farsi established before moving to the next one. Having said that we have made some steps towards new languages with interface translation for Bengali and discussions underway for Finnish, French, and Dutch. Our aim is to build FM language communities where there is interest - we are equally committed to 'under resourced' languages as well as larger languages. We have plunged into this with Farsi which is a right-to-left text so our tools are UTF8 compliant and can support RTL We will also build a general translation platform where manuals can be translated to and from any language - the idea is to build up a body of content in this 'holding platform' and then when any one language has a critical mass of content and contributors we would establish a platform exclusively for that language as part of the FM network. The nice thing is - we can establish a new language platform very quickly with just 1900 words to be translated in the FLOSS Manuals interface and 7 images that need translating. We have a nice tool for this also (http://en.flossmanuals.net/FLOSSManuals/LocalizeIntro). What takes longer however is resourcing and building a community which is a careful process and takes time. ok!...so that is the overview...we will have the general translation platform in place for the Book Sprint in July and very happy if it can be used for translation of the manual into more languages. adam -- Adam Hyde FLOSS Manuals http://www.flossmanuals.net + 31 6 2808 7108