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List:       koffice-devel
Subject:    Re: New KWord templates (translating and user interface issues)
From:       Mike McBride <mpmcbride7 () yahoo ! com>
Date:       2002-04-17 16:00:25
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On Wed, 2002-04-17 at 05:10, Thomas Diehl wrote:
> Am Mittwoch, 17. April 2002 10:23 schrieb David Faure:
> 
> > We have to find a way for this, but I'm not sure how is best to do that.
> > Solutions for similar problems:
> >
> > * A script that extracts the text from the XML (hey, one point for Thomas
> > ;), and puts it in a generated .cpp file that can be translated. Then the
> > application needs to call i18n() for every line of the template it's
> > loading, to translate it.

> Thanks. The second solution is not really practicable. We can't expect 
> all language teams to keep track of many different files in different 
> directories. Translation will work most effectively if teams just get their 
> usual bunch of POT files in kde-i18n/templates and can work with their 
> usual combination of KBabel and Catalogmanager.

Just to throw an idea in for discussion before a decision is made.

One thing that differs when translating templates (from i18n strings) is
that some languages may need to update/alter the size of frames to allow
for the different sizes of the translated strings.  If we simply extract
the text strings for translation, without any feedback to translators
they may produce un-usable/poorly formatted templates.

Additionally, does it make any sense to translate US letter templates
for locales that commonly use A4 sized paper?  

The next question is will the translated templates be available in
addition to the "English" versions, or replace them?  I would assume
that some users would be in a situation (probably even some of the
developers of KDE), who may want their applications or templates in a
language they use in everyday business, but because of the international
nature of their work, might do business in English (or French, Japanese,
etc....) as well.  It would be nice if they had both available.

I am not involved in either the translation or use of the translated
templates so you can take my thoughts for what they are worth, but it
strikes me that this is yet another problem of keeping the templates
organized within KWord. 

I personally think we should consider re-arranging the way templates are
grouped in the KWord dialog.  I think we should abandon the
"Text-Layout" and "Page Layout" tabs for something that makes more sense
to a user.

Suggested possible groups are:

Newsletters
Business Letters
Home Use
Posters
etc...

For each template, you might need to create multiple paper sizes
(Memo-A4, Memo-US Letter, etc).

Furthermore, I believe a dropdown box should be included on the template
dialog which allows the user to select the page format (A4, US Letter,
Misc, All, etc....). Ideally this would default to the international
settings defined by KDE, or once selected, become the default.

KWord will now use the dropdown box to "filter" out and remove all
documents which do not match the selected paper size.

This allows for several things:

1) Translated templates could be added as a new group of templates.  ie
Newsletters - French.  English templates could be deleted as a group by
the user.

2) Translation teams could choose to translate only those templates
which make sense. They could translate each template using KWord (a tool
that already exists), rather than generating (yet another) script which
extracts text, and hoping that the translated template looks correct.

3) As the number of templates gets larger, it will be easier for users
to find templates that matter to them by selecting the paper size and
the context of the template. This is better than asking them to remember
if that template was a text layout or page layout document...

IMHO the current way that templates are handled by KWord (from a UI
position) is less than elegant for the six templates we have now.  The
deficiencies in this method are only going to be more apparent as the
number of templates increases.

Take my opinion for what it is worth, since I will not be able to
implement any of these changes.

Mike McBride

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