1,035
edits
L10n:Starting a localization: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
No edit summary |
|||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
This document outlines what you should expect in order to start building a new language. | This document outlines what you should expect in order to start building a new language (in a language pack). | ||
= Team building = | = Team building = | ||
| Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
* Add yourself to a [[L10n:Teams]] wiki page that identifies you and what you're working on so people can find you. | * Add yourself to a [[L10n:Teams]] wiki page that identifies you and what you're working on so people can find you. | ||
* If you haven't already you should also get onto the IRC Channel, [http://irc.mozilla.org/ #l10n]. You will be able to get real-time help from other localizers and members of the L10n-driver team. You can also post questions or suggestions to [http://www.mozilla.org/community/developer-forums.html#dev-l10n m.d.l10n], available as newsgroup or on Google groups. In addition, you would want to have a bugzilla account as the majority of our work is started and tracked to completion in this way. | * If you haven't already you should also get onto the IRC Channel, [http://irc.mozilla.org/ #l10n]. You will be able to get real-time help from other localizers and members of the L10n-driver team. You can also post questions or suggestions to [http://www.mozilla.org/community/developer-forums.html#dev-l10n m.d.l10n], available as newsgroup or on Google groups. In addition, you would want to have a bugzilla account as the majority of our work is started and tracked to completion in this way. | ||
* Set up a communication channel for your language. You can use mailing lists or newsgroups, which many open source hosting partners offer, or simply open a Google or Yahoo group. You should leave a link to this forum on the wiki page for your language, so that new volunteers and members of the Mozilla community can find it. | * Set up a communication channel for your language. You can use mailing lists or newsgroups, which many open source hosting partners [is there a link we can insert here] offer, or simply open a Google or Yahoo group. You should leave a link to this forum on the wiki page for your language, so that new volunteers and members of the Mozilla community can find it. | ||
= Localization work = | = Localization work = | ||
Now you and your community are set up to do the actual localization work. Depending on your working habits and the size of your team, you may want to look into open source hosting offers like [http://mozdev.org mozdev.org] or [http://sf.net/ SourceForge] to get some central repository for your work together with mailing lists, newsgroups, and website. Or you can just use plain files and regular backups, or just set up your own P2P VCS. Whichever way you go, it's a good idea to start out in a way that is open to new collaborators and offers a smooth path going forward. That means, you should localize the Mozilla sources instead of the built files, and make your work | Now you and your community are set up to do the actual localization work. Depending on your working habits and the size of your team, you may want to look into open source hosting offers like [http://mozdev.org mozdev.org] or [http://sf.net/ SourceForge] to get some central repository for your work together with mailing lists, newsgroups, and website. Or you can just use plain files and regular backups, or just set up your own P2P VCS. Whichever way you go, it's a good idea to start out in a way that is open to new collaborators and offers a smooth path going forward. That means, you should localize the Mozilla sources instead of the built files, and make your work publicly available. You won't need all this for just finding out if localizing Mozilla apps is something for you, you should be good to go with just a bunch of local disk space. | ||
To make your work available for users to download and test, you create a language pack, which can be hosted on AMO. AMO offers many advantages for both you and your testers and users, starting from download capacity, and ending in automatic updates of your Add-on. | To make your work available for users to download and test, you create a language pack, which can be hosted on AMO[insert link]. AMO offers many advantages for both you and your testers and users, starting from download capacity, and ending in automatic updates of your Add-on. | ||
Starting from scratch on a new localization depends a good deal on whether you use a [[L10n:Tools|tool]], and if so, which. On MDC, we documented [[mdc:Creating en-X-dude]], which works with the Mozilla build system and an UTF-8-capable editor. You won't need a compiler, though, no worries. The steps rougly include | Starting from scratch on a new localization depends a good deal on whether you use a [[L10n:Tools|tool]], and if so, which. On MDC, we documented [[mdc:Creating en-X-dude]], which works with the Mozilla build system and an UTF-8-capable editor. You won't need a compiler, though, no worries. The steps rougly include | ||