tl;dr: Please help in getting
https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/38638
resolved and ensure that your code doesn't cause additional issues for
translators.
At
translatewiki.net we have an [ask question] button for translators,
and they have really used it to report various kinds of issues with
the messages they are translating. In fact, we barely have time to
sort those things into correct places, let alone poking developers to
act on them. We are experimenting with different ways to improve this
process – the last experiment is using Semantic MediaWiki to track
open issues, see [1].
Basically the backlog is growing, and we need some help to reverse the
direction. We have tried filing bugs and poking developers on IRC and
via email, but that is not scaling anymore, moreover bugs and pokes
are sometimes ignored[2].
There are many ways you can help:
1. Follow the best i18n practices like documenting new messages as
they are added [4]. Some of you may have noticed that we have started
to review any i18n and L10n changes more closely. This is not to annoy
you. This is to help you write code that can be translated better and
without too many questions from translators.
2. Have a look at [1] and act on issues.
3. Have a look at [1] and poke someone else to act on issues.
4. We need maintainers for [[Support]] [3] to sort stuff into the
correct places.
5. When committing code which has i18n changes, add Nikerabbit (me) or
Siebrand to reviewers.
6. Ideas on how to improve this process are welcome.
We think that we are all responsible for providing them with the
information they need. We feel it's our (
translatewiki.net staff's)
obligation to make sure translators can do their work without too many
distractions and wasted efforts.
[1]
https://translatewiki.net/wiki/Support/Open_requests
[2]
https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/38638
[3]
https://translatewiki.net/wiki/Support
[4]
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Localisation
--
Niklas Laxström
Siebrand Mazeland
Raimond Spekking
Federico Leva
Amir E. Aharoni