[Xfce-i18n] When a string change is needed

Steve Dodier sidnioulz at gmail.com
Wed Oct 7 20:39:55 CEST 2009


Hello,

It is clear that in every application, we sometimes have to modify a string:
we made a typo, we didn't use the most explicit phrasing, etc. In these
cases, I noticed XFCE developers were more reluctant to do such changes (of
course not when there is an actual typo :p) than other application
developers I've met. I think this is because of the fear that it takes time
to be translated again.

I think one thing that can drastically help translators to quickly review
those not-so-new strings is to make sure they don't need to understand why
there is a new string and in what context it is. This is why I propose
adding a line to the suggestions to developers page: when a developer has to
change a string, (s)he could put a comment of the following form:

# TRANSLATORS: string changed for reason <reason>, it previously was <old
string>.

This will sometimes make it much clearer why a string changed, and it will
help to get in context (and for translators who don't use daily builds, to
use their application's current translation as they see it as a base for the
new translation).

Cheers, SD.

-- 
Steve Dodier
Student at École Normale Supérieure d'Ingénieurs de Bourges
FLOSS Developer
OpenGPG : 1B6B1670
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