Localized Images (wasRe: ubuntu-docs Requirements?)

[Matthew East]

On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 2:24 PM, Kyle Nitzsche
<kyle.nitzsche at canonical.com> wrote:
> So, we agree images sometimes are a benefit and that the ubuntu-docs build
> system may not currently support localized images. I'd propose that
> implementing this should be a "requirement" for which implementation plans
> can be formulated.

I'm not sure that it's in our interests to insist on this sort of
"requirement". We can still use images in the docs without supporting
localisation of those images, by having a policy of only using images
without any text in them. For example, for me the most compelling
use-case for images is to show users what particular icons look like
(e.g. instructions like "click the network connection icon" or "click
the upgrade notifier icon" are totally useless without showing the
user what those icons look like) and that can be done by referencing
the actual icon on the user's system. No text is required for that.

I think that adding support for localised images would be complex. The
complex bit of adding support is not in the build system (it's more or
less as simply as adding the folder infrastructure in the branch, as
you note) but it's in how translations are collected. As far as I'm
aware, images (at least with most formats) can't be translated in
Rosetta and included in our pot template for the relevant document.
We'd have to collect them from translators manually (as Gnome does,
for example). This places a new burden on translators to take and
prepare the screenshots, which is not a trivial amount of work
extrapolated over several tens of languages, and on us to add them to
the branch. The same process applies whenever the image needs to be
updated for a UI change.

Looking at Gnome docs it's clear that not as many languages have up to
date translated images as have translated documentation. That would be
an unfortunate situation to get in.

It's a question of balancing the pros and cons of the approach, and
I'd personally say that given that images without text can be used
without difficulty, and in pursuit of the general goal of keeping
things simple, my personal preference would come down on the side of
not using images with text in.

Perhaps we can discuss this further at the meeting

-- 
Matthew East
http://www.mdke.org
gnupg pub 1024D/0E6B06FF