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= Localization - an overview =
[[news://news.mozilla.org/netscape.public.mozilla.l10n newsgroup discussion]] / [[mailto:mozilla-l10n-request@mozilla.org?subject=subscribe mailing list]] / [[mailto:mlp-staff@mozilla.org Mozilla Localization Project Staff]]
MLP [[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/l10n/ Localization Project home]] | [[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/l10n/mlp_docs.html Localization docs]] | [Overview]
The object of localization is to translate an application's menus, dialogue boxes, labels and other settings (font, character encodings, dictionaries, default search engine etc) for a particular locale.
== The Basics of Localization ==
The user interfaces (UIs) of Firefox, Thunderbird, the Mozilla Application Suite and Sunbird/Calendar are constructed using XML User Interface Language (XUL).
This is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) dialect and it allows the form (layout), function, content (language) and appearance (theme) of the UI to be described in separate files.
Such separation allows applications built with XUL to be localized relatively easily.
All the text of the UI is held in DTD and Java-style <code>.properties</code> files. These text files link a token used in a XUL file to the actual string to be displayed. So, for example, the following XUL fragment is from <var>am-main.xul</var>:
<pre class="code"><caption label="&<b class="token">identityTitle.label</b>;"/>
<description>&<b class="token">identityDesc.label</b>;</description>
</pre>
and corresponds to the following fragment from <var>am-main.dtd</var>:
<pre class="code"><!ENTITY <b class="token">identityTitle.label</b> "Identity">
<!ENTITY <b class="token">identityDesc.label</b> "Each account has an identity, which is the ↵
↳ information that other people see when they read your messages.">
</pre>
where the "<code>↵ ↳</code>" indicates a single line, broken here for readability.
By altering the DTD file, you change the text displayed within the application.
== How to begin a localization ==
The following steps should give you an idea of how to localize Firefox, Thunderbird etc.
<p class="note">if you want to contribute your localizations back to the MLP, head over to the [[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/l10n/registration.html registration page]]. From there, you can check whether anyone is already producing localizations for your intended language, and either join them or register yourself for one of the projects.
*Download a release of the product you want to localize.
**[[http://www.mozilla.org/releases/ Application Suite]]
**[[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/ Firefox browser]]
**[[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/camino/ Camino Mac browser]]
**[[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/ Thunderbird mail client]]
**[[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/| Sunbird & Calendar]]
*Alternatively (for Firefox, and soon, Thunderbird) you can use CVS to...(tbc)
[[news://news.mozilla.org/netscape.public.mozilla.l10n newsgroup discussion]] / [[mailto:mozilla-l10n-request@mozilla.org?subject=subscribe mailing list]] / [[mailto:mlp-staff@mozilla.org Mozilla Localization Project Staff]]
MLP [[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/l10n/ Localization Project home]] | [[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/l10n/mlp_docs.html Localization docs]] | [Overview]
The object of localization is to translate an application's menus, dialogue boxes, labels and other settings (font, character encodings, dictionaries, default search engine etc) for a particular locale.
== The Basics of Localization ==
The user interfaces (UIs) of Firefox, Thunderbird, the Mozilla Application Suite and Sunbird/Calendar are constructed using XML User Interface Language (XUL).
This is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) dialect and it allows the form (layout), function, content (language) and appearance (theme) of the UI to be described in separate files.
Such separation allows applications built with XUL to be localized relatively easily.
All the text of the UI is held in DTD and Java-style <code>.properties</code> files. These text files link a token used in a XUL file to the actual string to be displayed. So, for example, the following XUL fragment is from <var>am-main.xul</var>:
<pre class="code"><caption label="&<b class="token">identityTitle.label</b>;"/>
<description>&<b class="token">identityDesc.label</b>;</description>
</pre>
and corresponds to the following fragment from <var>am-main.dtd</var>:
<pre class="code"><!ENTITY <b class="token">identityTitle.label</b> "Identity">
<!ENTITY <b class="token">identityDesc.label</b> "Each account has an identity, which is the ↵
↳ information that other people see when they read your messages.">
</pre>
where the "<code>↵ ↳</code>" indicates a single line, broken here for readability.
By altering the DTD file, you change the text displayed within the application.
== How to begin a localization ==
The following steps should give you an idea of how to localize Firefox, Thunderbird etc.
<p class="note">if you want to contribute your localizations back to the MLP, head over to the [[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/l10n/registration.html registration page]]. From there, you can check whether anyone is already producing localizations for your intended language, and either join them or register yourself for one of the projects.
*Download a release of the product you want to localize.
**[[http://www.mozilla.org/releases/ Application Suite]]
**[[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/ Firefox browser]]
**[[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/camino/ Camino Mac browser]]
**[[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/ Thunderbird mail client]]
**[[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/| Sunbird & Calendar]]
*Alternatively (for Firefox, and soon, Thunderbird) you can use CVS to...(tbc)
