[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kfm-devel
Subject:    Re: Unneccesary translations for the upcoming release
From:       Hamish Rodda <meddie () yoyo ! cc ! monash ! edu ! au>
Date:       2002-01-28 1:43:11
[Download RAW message or body]

Rob,

Thanks for your criticisms...:

>On Mon, Jan 28, 2002 at 06:20:14AM +1100, Hamish Rodda wrote:
>> "Contact your appropriate computer support system, "
>> "whether the system administrator, techincal support group, software "
>> "provider or Internet Service Provider (ISP), for further assistance."
>
>Apart from the typo in "techincal", is this really what we want? Might as
>well include "ask your nephew" if we're going to list all possible kinds of
>support systems.

I simplified this (removed computer support system, software provider & isp), 
and am only displaying the message where the error warrants it.

>> "Contact the administrator of the server, "
>> "typically at <a href=\"mailto:webmaster@%1\">webmaster@%1</a>, for
>> further " "assistance."
>
>webmaster@ isn't too typical, I know of many sites where it will not work.
>Thus the user gets a mailer-daemon failure notice and is even more confused.

deleted already (these were the strings that got into the latest i18n 
extraction).

>> "Check your access permissions on this resource."
>
>How?

Ideally I would include an active link to the permissions dialog for the 
resource. This is a bit down the track though.

>> "The file may be in use (and thus locked) by "
>> "another user or application."
>>
>> "Check to make sure that no other "
>> "application or user is using the file or has locked the file."
>
>Might be nice for KDE/Cygwin, but under Unices this shouldn't be a problem.

Well, it is a possibility for WebDAV, but you're right, I should add this as 
another error type.

>> "Although unlikely, a hardware error may have "
>> "occurred."
>
>If it did, why is it unlikely? If it's not certain, what might be the other
>cause? How do I fix it?

this is only ever given as the last of a string of possibilities (see 
kio/kio/global.cpp), and I have reduced its use to only where it is a 
possibility. In this case they would contact tech support.

>> "Update your software to the latest version. "
>> "Your distribution should provide tools to update your software."
>
>It's up to my distribution to decide what it should and should not do.
>Besides, distribution is too Linux-specific, KDE runs on various non-Linux
>platforms that do not have the concept of distributions.

should -> may? Or I could just remove the second part.

>> "When all else fails, please consider helping the "
>> "KDE team or the third party maintainer of this software by submitting a "
>> "high quality bug report. If the software is provided by a third party, "
>> "please contact them directly. Otherwise, first look to see if "
>> "the same bug has been submitted by someone else by searching at the "
>> "<a href=\"http://bugs.kde.org/\">KDE bug reporting website</a>. If not,
>> take " "note of the details given above, and include them in your bug
>> report, along " "with as many other details as you think might help."
>
>But only when all else fails. ;-)

In this case they have been told to update their software first :)

>> "There may have been a problem with your network "
>> "connection."
>>
>> "There may have been a problem with your network "
>> "configuration. If you have been accessing the internet with no problems "
>> "recently, this is unlikely."
>>
>> "There may have been a problem at some point along "
>> "the network path between the server and this computer."
>
>"May" is a very unprofessional word. It signals you are uncertain which is
>never a good sign.

Well, that's because we are uncertain. You really can't be too certain about a 
network error, especially a timeout.

>> "A protocol error or incompatability may have occurred."
>
>So? How can my mom go and fix that? It isn't a bit more useful to her than
>"could not connect to host".

right... I will delete.

>> "The program on your computer which provides access "
>> "to the <strong>%1</strong> protocol could not be started. This is "
>> "usually due to technical reasons."
>
>So?

This is for unable to launch process. They are told to update.

>> "Internal Error"
>> "The program on your computer which provides access "
>> "to the <strong>%</strong> protocol has reported an internal error." )
>
>That should cause a bug report, no?

It does (in context, see source).

>> "Inproperly Formatted URL"
>>
>> "The <strong>U</strong>niversal <strong>R</strong>esource "
>> "<strong>L</strong>ocation (URL) that you entered was not properly "
>> "formatted. The format of a URL is generally as follows:"
>> "<blockquote><strong>protocol://user@password:www.example.org:port/directo
>>ry/" "filename.extension?query=value</strong></blockquote>"
>
>Actually, no. The // is only used for hosts, not for files.

can you suggest a better way of putting it? I could delete the second 
sentance.

>> "Double-check that you have entered a properly formatted "
>> "URL and try again."
>
>KDE just told me it wasn't proper, why should I check and double check? Just
>tell the user to enter a proper one.

Ok.

>> "URL Does Not Refer to a Resource."
>
>Hm? What does that mean?

It's better than saying "Request referred to a filter protocol". this is when 
someone enters something like tar:/ without giving a source file.

>> "You may not have permissions to create the device. This occurs "
>> "typically in UNIX environments where a user without system "
>> "administration privileges tries to open a port in the privileged range, "
>> "between port 1 and port 1024."
>
>What do devices have to do with port binding?

deleted

>> "You may not have permissions to initialise (\"mount\") the "
>> "device. On UNIX systems, often system administrator privileges are "
>> "required to initialse a device."
>
>"initialise" (or initialize for C, en_GB isn't default)

heh :) I live in AUS...

>> "Could Not Bind"
>>
>> "This is a fairly technical error in which a required "
>> "device for network communications (a socket) could not be established "
>> "to listen for incoming network connections."
>
>Fairly technical, but not completely?

/s/fairly//

>> "If you understand the security implications, you could start "
>> "konqueror as the system administrator (root user) if required."
>
>If you don't, bugger off? :-)

deleted already

>> "Undocumented Error"
>
>Errors should be fixed, not documented. :-)

Well I couldn't understand what ERR_COULD_NOT_CLOSEDIR = "Could not terminate 
listing" meant.

Besides, if all errors could be fixed, no error handling code would be needed.

>Maybe I am just being a pain in the ass, but all these Windows-isms scare me
>a lot. Please tell me this is only for en_dummy and will not be default
>behavior?
>
>(I don't mean to diss your efforts, it's the concept I disagree with)

I plan for this to be configurable, yes, but if your objections are resolved 
do you think it would be that bad if the default were with it on? I could 
have an option to turn the detail off in the dialog box I suppose. In all 
cases these messages are replacing a one-liner, so I hope that it is more 
useful to the user. 

Hamish.
[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]