Translation Guide for ubuntu-mate.org

Development Discussion Translations
1

Here are the guidelines for translating ubuntu-mate.org

Please carefully observe the following to avoid breaking the website. There are automated checks in place when syncing from Transifex to prevent the site being published if there is invalid data.

Key/value pairs

This refers to text surrounded by a colon. This is YAML data. For example:

title: About

:arrow_left: The first word before the colon (known as the "key") must remain in English.

:eye: Watch out for double quotes surrounding the text.

  • If the double quotes are missing, this will be valid as long as there isn't a single quote or apostrophe in the translation. In that case, add double quotes.

:x: For example, the apostrophe causes a problem:

main_subtitle: Choisissez parmi notre sélection organisée d'applications
                                                           ^

:white_check_mark: This will be valid:

main_subtitle: "Choisissez parmi notre sélection organisée d'applications"

Markdown

Please retain the original formatting. Anything with curly braces must be left intact, for example:

{:.btn}
[This can be translated](https://example.com){:.btn}

:eye: Watch out for white space. A few strings (usually after a >-) may start with 4 spaces, please preserve the 4 spaces.

Permalinks/URLs

Internal URLs must be left to their original destination as they cannot be reliably translated. Upon publication, the system will automatically rewrite the links accordingly.

  • :white_check_mark: /download/
  • :x: /fr/download/
  • :x: /fr/télécharger/

:ok_hand: If a URL points to a third party that has a localised address, you may change this.

:ok_hand: At your discretion, you may change the Testimonials to quote articles/videos in your native language/country.

Emoji

  • :white_check_mark: Must remain in English. For example :slightly_smiling_face:
  • :x: Should not be transformed into a Unicode character.
    • By this, we mean a "graphic" that appears within the text box.
    • Watch out if you have any browser extensions or software that automatically do this.

When will the site be synced?

:arrows_counterclockwise: Let one of the team members know! Only languages that are over 50% translated will be published, to avoid incomplete languages from having too many English pages.

Where are the blog posts before 2019?

:wastebasket: These have been omitted, as they double your workload for little value. If you believe we should include older blog posts, please let us know!

Why are some sections still in English?

Some of the data is hardcoded and cannot be translated at the moment:

Status Page Where
:files: Team Roles under the "Notable Contributors" section.
:files: Support The "Problem" column
:x: (Any screenshot) Screenshots showing English text (such as Feature pages)
:x: Blog Posts Comments section

Legend:

  • :files: This is a data issue, but we might be able to circumvent in future.
  • :x: This is a limitation or too complicated.

If you have any questions, please post in the Ubuntu MATE Community in the Translations category:

If you encounter a bug with the website experience as a result of translations, please raise an issue on the website repository on GitHub.

Thank you for your work! :writing_hand:

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