Common actions and translation of text, tooltips, mnemonics...

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Karsten Wutzke - 20 Sep 2007 11:22 GMT

Hello!

I'm wondering about repeatingly occurring actions in an application or
application framework. Most often, actions are repeated *many* times
inside an application, today most of them also need to be localized so
that the actual button will reflect the user readable state.

"ok" ----"en_US"----> "OK", "Accept", "o"
"ok" ----"de_DE"----> "OK", "Akzeptieren", "a"
"ok" ----"fr_FR"----> "OK", "Accepter", "a" ???

"cancel" ----"en_US"----> "OK", "Cancel", "c"
"cancel" ----"de_DE"----> "OK", "Abbrechen", "a"
"cancel" ----"fr_FR"----> "OK", "Annuler", "a" ???

.
.
.

These actions are:

ok
cancel
yes
no
accept
decline
apply
revert/restore/reset (defaults)
close
retry
next
previous
up
down
back
help

The above are mostly actions that are found in dialogs. Many other
common actions via menus include:

FILE
new
open
save
save as
close
print
exit

EDIT
undo
redo
cut
copy
paste
delete
search
searchon

VIEW
scaleup
scaledown

EXTRAS?
addons
plugins
settings
...?

HELP
help
jreinfo
about

Common popup actions could be:

cut (again)
copy (again)
paste (again)
delete (again)
properties
...

The UPPERCASE entries are groups (e.g. resulting in a JMenu or nothing
as when displaying a JPopupMenu)
... (list not complete)

By concept the approach is comparable to what "icon sets" deliver. An
icon set delivers a set of common images for all kinds of
applications, an "action set" would deliver localized text, tooltips,
mnemonics, and sometimes accelerators.

Are there any (somewhat) standardized ResourceBundles available
somewhere that *translate* all/most of the common action descriptions
for the most common locales/languages? Does such a thing exist at all?
Has anyone ever written such a thing?

The problem about writing one myself is I only speak English and
German, some French, but after that I'd depend on people from other
countries or use some translating tool *g*. I'd have no problem
starting such an effort and provide that solution to the rest of the
world.

I'd be happy to start with the common *dialog* actions listed at the
very top.

I could really use your input on the topic, but any useful help is
greatly appreciated!

Karsten

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Karsten Wutzke - 20 Sep 2007 11:44 GMT

> Hello!

snip

> "cancel" ----"en_US"----> "OK", "Cancel", "c"
> "cancel" ----"de_DE"----> "OK", "Abbrechen", "a"
> "cancel" ----"fr_FR"----> "OK", "Annuler", "a" ???

I love copy and paste errors...

"cancel" ----"en_US"----> "Cancel", "Cancel", "c"
"cancel" ----"de_DE"----> "Abbrechen", "Abbrechen", "a"
"cancel" ----"fr_FR"----> "Annuler", "Annuler", "a" ???

BTW: The second string is supposed to be the tooltip, the third is the
mnemonic key. When action gets created the programmer could (but
doesn't have to) access the string resources (put into some
CommonActionFactory or such):

public (static) Action createOkAction()
{
ResourceBundle rb = code that finds the "common actions resource
bundle";

String name = rb.getString(CommonActions.OK_NAME_KEY);
String tip = rb.getString(CommonActions.OK_TOOLTIP_KEY);
String mnem = rb.getString(CommonActions.OK_MNEMONIC_KEY);

Action act = new action code;

act.putValue(Action.NAME, name);
act.putValue(Action.SHORT_DESCRIPTION, tip);
act.putValue(Action.MNEMONIC_KEY, mnem);

return act;
}

Note this is only examplary code, since it is unknown for the OK
action what is is do do actually, you will likely need a param in the
method call and use your own action API...

Karsten

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Roedy Green - 20 Sep 2007 20:21 GMT

>"cancel" ----"en_US"----> "OK", "Cancel", "c"
>"cancel" ----"de_DE"----> "OK", "Abbrechen", "a"
>"cancel" ----"fr_FR"----> "OK", "Annuler", "a" ???

You can't do this with a dictionary or with somebody who knows the
language. You need somebody who uses computers who uses the
conventional names. You could imagine a Russian programmer
translating the Russian equivalents of:
save -> rescue
open -> crack
print -> write
cancel -> reneg
OK -> acceptable

Consider preparing your list, getting it professionally translated,
then posting it as an HTML table for anyone to use in any language.

I have noticed that Opera and other similar projects seem to have no
trouble finding volunteers to translate quite large files without pay.
Further I have found that if you post an approximation, people will
happily write you about the errors. Perhaps just post your best shot,
and ask around in various places if people would be willing to have a
look at it and comment. Your customers too will likely inform you if
you have goofed.

Think of it as an ongoing project rather than something you can finish
in a day.

Signature

Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
The Java Glossary
http://mindprod.com

Reply to this Message

Roedy Green - 20 Sep 2007 20:35 GMT

On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:21:44 GMT, Roedy Green
<see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> wrote, quoted or indirectly quoted
someone who said :

>Think of it as an ongoing project rather than something you can finish
>in a day.

If you post a matrix. you may find people volunteering new rows or
columns. This could become a great resource for small programmers.

Signature

Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
The Java Glossary
http://mindprod.com

Reply to this Message

Roedy Green - 22 Sep 2007 04:32 GMT

On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:21:44 GMT, Roedy Green
<see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> wrote, quoted or indirectly quoted
someone who said :

>Consider preparing your list, getting it professionally translated,
>then posting it as an HTML table for anyone to use in any language.

If you want be to format and post your first cut at this list, I would
be happy to put it in the Java glossary and maintain updates.

Signature

Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
The Java Glossary
http://mindprod.com

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Jeff Higgins - 22 Sep 2007 11:11 GMT

> Hello!
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> "cancel" ----"de_DE"----> "OK", "Abbrechen", "a"
> "cancel" ----"fr_FR"----> "OK", "Annuler", "a" ???

This has already been done - probably more than once.
But one available resource is the Eclipse Foundation.
I cannot provide a good link at the moment, but if you
search the Eclipse project for stuff like "Language Pack",
"NLS", etc. you will likely find all the translations you
desire. Here's one pointer, admittedly not the best.
<http://archive.eclipse.org/eclipse/downloads/drops/L-3.0.1_Translations-20040916
1125/index.php>

Reply to this Message

Roedy Green - 22 Sep 2007 22:04 GMT

On Sat, 22 Sep 2007 06:11:34 -0400, "Jeff Higgins"
<oohiggins@yahoo.com> wrote, quoted or indirectly quoted someone who
said :

><http://archive.eclipse.org/eclipse/downloads/drops/L-3.0.1_Translations-20040916
1125/index.php>

for my list of tools and word lists see :
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/translation.html

Signature

Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
The Java Glossary
http://mindprod.com

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Laurent D.A.M. MENTEN - 22 Sep 2007 11:42 GMT

Have a look there: http://java.sun.com/products/jlf/ed2/book/ and check
Appendix C: Localization Word Lists

Laurent

Karsten Wutzke a écrit :

> Hello!
>
[quoted text clipped - 107 lines]
>
> Karsten

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Common actions and translation of text, tooltips, mnemonics...

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