Proposed string freeze exceptions

[Milo Casagrande]

Hi,

2009/10/5 Matthew East <mdke at ubuntu.com>:
>
> 1. Since it's the translators who often pick up these items, we should
> encourage translators to start working on the docs well before the
> string freeze. The reality is that most of the work they need to do
> can be started earlier without the work being wasted. And as you say,
> the package is uploaded relatively regularly so the translations are
> normally up to date. Do translators think this is realistic?

Well... it depends... If we start translating something early in the
process, we might do that work twice, since strings may change.
In this case, if we really start translating early and we find an
error in a string, file a bug+patch, we will end up re-translate again
that very string, since for Launchpad it will be a new one and it
won't have any suggestions (as long as things have not changed in
Launchpad)...

> 2. We could set up an automatic ppa upload with a package that is
> always up to date. I don't know how to do this but I've seen that some
> other teams have done so. That would need to be coupled with
> invitations to testers...

Even the HTML version of the docs could do if it's easier to set up...

> 4. We could get the regular testing community involved in testing the
> docs so that testing documentation is a part of the regular testing
> regime - http://testcases.qa.ubuntu.com/

Another (probably drastic) idea could be to have the string freeze one
week earlier than it is now, and in that week do a strings review,
maybe seeking help from translators too.

I have to be honest, there are also other (minor) glitches in the docs
that should really be taken care of, but that would mean that lot of
strings will need to be changed. I'm referring to wrong use of
terminology: there are a lot of "press..." when "choose" or "click"
should be used instead. A review period would really be useful.

Ciao.

-- 
Milo Casagrande <milo at casagrande.name>