On Monday 28 May 2012 01:11 Florian Rüchel wrote: > On the subject of how we translate string in ownCloud. I couldn't find a > lot of discussion on this subject and since I just joined in ownCloud, I > hope I can get some feedback on the reasons why certain decisions were made. > > First off all, I come from Joomla and my main experience originates from > here. I have worked with other CMS in PHP but most of what I will state > is based on the Joomla practices. > > The ownCloud way: As you all know, ownCloud translates by using an array > called $TRANSLATIONS and calls it via the language interfaces > t()-function. The general practice (at least in all the code I found), > was to use the english text as the key for all languages. > > The Joomla way: Joomla offers a static function (which internally also > calls a language-instance) to translate strings. In Joomla the general > practice is to use a describing string like COM_CONTENT_ARTICLE_TITLE > which would then be translated to the current language. All strings are > defined in a language-ini file which is read by the PHP-parser. > > Now here comes my opinion: > I have a hard with one language being the key for another. I imagine > wanting to change that string. I would have to change it in *every* > lang-file. Of course, I can accomplish that with scripts and such, but > it strikes my as no good practice.
I don't know how much trouble it is to update the translations, but I for one really prefer having natural language (English) as the key for translations. Even though they may change more often, I find it easier to put into context when having a proper string to translate, rather than and artificial "constant" which often tends to end up just as long anyways, and harder to get the meaning from. I'm working on a proposal for a templating system which uses the current translation backend, but adds an easy way to use variables in the translation string. At first glance I found using PHP arrays a bit unelegant (in lack of better words), but on seconds thought I like the KISS of it ;-) -- Med venlig hilsen / Best Regards Thomas Tanghus _______________________________________________ Owncloud mailing list [email protected] https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/owncloud
