Localized Images (wasRe: ubuntu-docs Requirements?)

[Kyle Nitzsche]

Kyle Nitzsche wrote:
> {snip}
>
> Theoretically, "New to Ubuntu" could be written to support localized 
> images in docbook with not much work using doctemplate as the build 
> system. It would be its own pkg but would also be in ubuntu help center 
> index/toc. The user experience would be no different than it is today: 
> it would simply appear as a topic in Ubuntu Help Center. Yes, it would 
> need omf files - which is almost zero work. (Could also be displayed on 
> first boot.) It could transition to mallard as part of that larger plan.
>
> I will attempt to prove this ^^ by posting localized versions of an 
> existing ubuntu-docs topic (with some translated text and localized 
> images) in docbook, html, and pdf in a  short period of time.
>
>   
So, I took the about-ubuntu topic and set it up for doctemplate. (one 
command and a minuscule amount of file copying/rearranging)

I added a localized Spanish image (by simply dropping it in images-es/).

Updated pot and pos with: ./update_pot_pos command

modified a few es.po strings to include " DEMO L10n - Kyle"

Built localized docbook with ./make_docbook.

* screenshot of localized (text and image) docbook in yelp ENGLISH: 
http://people.canonical.com/~knitzsche/en.png
* screenshot of localized (text and image) docbook in yelp SPANISH 
http://people.canonical.com/~knitzsche/es.png

Built localized pdfs with ./make_pdf
* ENGLISH pdf: http://people.canonical.com/~knitzsche/about-ubuntu.en.pdf
* SPANISH pdf: http://people.canonical.com/~knitzsche/about-ubuntu.es.pdf

A brief, focused, localized "New to Ubuntu" article/package could 
theoretically be written this way and be delivered as pdf, docbook, html 
with no difference to the user experience, I think.

cheers,
Kyle
> Cheers,
> Kyle
>
>
>
>
>
> Matthew East wrote:
>   
>> 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
>>
>>   
>>     
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