On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 03:00:15PM -0800, Chris Claydon wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I work on the MapGuide Open Source project, which makes use of OpenLayers via
> the Fusion open source viewer. We'd like to add support for Spanish,
> Hungarian, and possibly Japanese localized strings to OpenLayers, and we have
> a couple of questions...
Chris,
I think what you're seeing is clear evidence that there is not a strong
consensus on the right way to do language files yet. :) Our typical
coding style dictator (Erik) was not involved in the i18n process, so we
didn't get the usual set of process instructions for these files :)
What I would recommend is:
* Creating a two-char lang file for the 'base' of the language
* If there is a different interpretation of the language for a
sub-language -- for example, en-GB spells 'colour' differently --
extend from the default/'base' of that language.
OpenLayers will automatically handle taking the user's client
language ("en-GB") and falling back to en if there is no -GB
translation file.
* I don't have an opinion on whether we should extend from English
or not. If we do, then missing translations get an english string. I
we don't, missing translations get a string like
'olMessageStringKey'. I tend to think the former is better than the
latter -- at least *some* foreign speakers will be able to handle it,
as opposed to 'none'.
> So, when creating new language resources, which is the best model to follow?
> Is there any documentation on this, or any general guidelines?
Not yet, but I'm glad to hear you're interested in helping to build them
:) More seriously, I'd welcome a cleanup according to the suggestions
above, barring any clear objections on a technical basis from other
members of the community.
Also, I'm presuming you're aware that there is already a spanish
translation...
http://trac.openlayers.org/browser/trunk/openlayers/lib/OpenLayers/Lang/es.js
Regards,
--
Christopher Schmidt
MetaCarta
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