“Localisation”

Photini can be made easier to use for people who don’t speak English. There are two parts to this – the text used within the program and the documentation. I rely on users to do the translation as I can not write any other language with any fluency. You can use an online service (Weblate or Transifex) or a suitable text editor installed on your computer.

Translating the program text

Translation status

Translation progress so far

If your computer is configured to use a language other than English, and Photini has already been translated into that language, then Photini should use the translation automatically. For example, this is what it might look like if your computer is configured to use Spanish.

../_images/screenshot_37.png

If you’d like to help by translating Photini into another language, or by improving an existing translation, then this page is for you.

Online translation

The main advantages of online translation are that you don’t need to install any software on your computer (apart from a web browser) and that several people can work on the same language. Each person can contribute as much or as little effort as they wish.

Please read the notes below for things to be aware of when translating the program strings.

Weblate

Weblate is an online translation service that provides free support for open source projects such as Photini. Its main advantage over Transifex is that most strings have a screenshot associated with them to show the context where the string is used. Follow the link to Weblate and click on “Register”. From there you can create a free account and sign in. I recommend using one of the authentication services (e.g. GitHub or Google) so you don’t have to invent yet another user name and password.

Back at the Photini project page, click on the “GUI” component, then click on a language to work on, or “Start new translation” if your language is not listed. Clicking on “Browse” shows a list of strings and their translations. You can then click on a string to edit its translation.

When you’ve finished working on a translation there’s no need to do anything further. Weblate automatically pushes the translation to GitHub, where I can merge it into the main repository branch. You might like to test your translation though.

Transifex

Transifex is another online translation service with free support for open source projects. Follow the link to Transifex and click on “Help Translate “Photini””. From there you can create a free account and sign in. I recommend using one of the authentication services (e.g. GitHub or Google) so you don’t have to invent yet another user name and password.

Back at the Transifex Photini page click on “Languages” to show all the languages currently being translated to. If your language is not included in the list you can ask for it to be added by clicking on “request language”. Each language is represented by a code, e.g. nl or en_CA. The longer codes are usually regional or national variations of a common language. You should choose the common language if it’s not already available in Photini, moving on to the variations once the common language is done. Once your language is added you can ask to join the language team and then start translating.

Click on your language, then click on “src..en/photini.ts (transifex)” to work on the Photini GUI strings.

When you’ve finished working on a translation there’s no need to do anything further. When I receive a notification from Transifex I can merge the new translations into the project on GitHub. You might like to test your translation though.

Offline translation

Translating Photini on your own computer will probably require extra software to be installed, but may be easier as you can see the program source where translations are used.

Start by downloading the development version of Photini by cloning the GitHub repository (see Development version). You will also need to install pyside6-lupdate. This is part of the PySide6 package installable with pip.

The program strings are stored in files with names like src/lang/nl/photini.ts, where nl is the code for the Dutch language. First you should update (or initialise if they don’t exist) the translation files with the current program strings:

$ python3 utils/lang_update.py -l nl -q

Now you can open a translation file in your chosen editor, for example:

$ pyside6-linguist src/lang/nl/photini.ts

You can use any text editor for your translations, but a special purpose translation editor is preferable. The Qt Linguist program is ideal, but any editor that understands the .ts file format used for the program strings should be acceptable.

Please read the notes below for things to be aware of when translating the program strings. When you’ve finished your translation, or done a significant chunk of it, please email it to me (jim@jim-easterbrook.me.uk). You might like to test your translation first.

Things to be aware of

String length

Many of the strings to be translated have to fit into buttons on the GUI, so your translation should not be much longer than the English original. If the English text is using abbreviations then the translation probably needs to as well.

Words with special meanings

Some of Photini’s GUI elements such as Title / Object Name are named after the metadata items in the Exif, XMP or IPTC specifications. If information about these standards is available in your language it may help with translating these words.

Formatting strings

In Python curly braces are used to include other data in a string. For example, File "{file_name}" has {size} bytes and exceeds {service}'s limit of {max_size} bytes. includes the file name & size and a size limit set by a service such as Flickr. You should take care not to change what’s inside the braces, but you can reorder them if it’s appropriate for your language.

Not HTML markup

Some strings such as <multiple values> are not HTML. The angle brackets <> are used to indicate text with a special meaning. These strings should usually be translated.

Keyboard shortcuts

Some strings include a single ampersand character & immediately before a letter that is used as a keyboard shortcut. You should choose a suitable letter in your translation and place the ampersand appropriately.

Plural forms

Translations can accommodate the many ways that languages handle plurals. For example in English we write “0 files, 1 file, 2 files”. Weblate has a separate translation for each plural form. Other translation editors should also handle plural forms.

Testing your translation

You need a copy of the Photini source files to test your translation with. You can download or clone this from GitHub (see Development version).

If you’ve been working online then you can download your translation with Weblate’s “Files” menu. It will have the wrong default name so, for example, make sure you save photini-gui-fr.ts as src/lang/fr/photini.ts.

The translation file needs to be “compiled” (converted from .ts format to .qm format) before it can be used by the Photini program. This requires the pyside6-lrelease program, which is part of the PySide6 package on PyPI.

You can easily update all the language files:

$ python3 utils/lang_update.py -s

Now you can install Photini with your new translation(s). The translation file is compiled during the installation:

$ pip3 install --user .

Photini should use your new language if your computer’s LANG environment variable is set appropriately. You can force this when running Photini from the command line:

$ LANG=nl python3 -m photini

Photini should now be using your translations.

Translating the documentation

Translating Photini’s documentation is a lot more work than translating the program itself. The “Read the Docs” web site can host multiple languages, and I would welcome the chance to add documentation of Photini in other languages. However, translating the program strings is a much higher priority.

Online translation

This uses Transifex as described above. The documentation strings are in the resource “src..gettext/documentation.pot (transifex)”.

See the notes below for things to be aware of when translating the documentation.

Offline translation

The documentation translation uses .po files as specified by the GNU gettext project. You can open the translation file in any editor, but a translation tool is best. For example:

$ python3 utils/lang_update.py -l nl -d
$ pyside6-linguist src/lang/nl/LC_MESSAGES/documentation.po

See the notes below for things to be aware of when translating the documentation.

Things to be aware of

The Photini documentation is written in reStructuredText. This is a markup language that looks very like plain text, but uses certain characters to give extra meaning to some parts. You need to take extra care when the string to be translated includes such markup. The markup often needs to be preceded or followed by a space or other punctuation. Take care to copy spaces and punctuation from the English source.

Double backquotes ``

These often mark words that are used in the Photini GUI. You may wish to include the English equivalent in brackets after your translation to help users read the documentation as the screen grabs are all from the English version. For example, the English ``Orientation`` could appear in a German translation as ``Ausrichtung (Orientation)``.

Special characters, e.g. (|hazard|)

These refer to Unicode symbols and should not be translated.

Short cross references, e.g. :doc:`tags`

These should not be translated.

Long cross references, e.g. :ref:`installation <installation-optional>`

The text within the <> characters should not be translated, but it may be appropriate to translate the preceding link text.

Short external links, e.g. `Google Photos`_

If you need to translate the text you can transform the short link into a long one. For example, the English `Google Photos`_ could appear in a Korean translation as `Google 포토 <Google Photos_>`_. Note the underscores _ and backquotes ` - they are vital!

Long external links, e.g. `Flickr <http://www.flickr.com/>`_

The url within the <> characters should not be translated, but it may be appropriate to translate the preceding link text.

Testing your translation

If you install Sphinx (See installation) you can build a local copy of the documentation using your translation. For example, to build Dutch documentation:

$ LANG=nl python3 utils/build_docs.py

Open doc/html/index.html with a web browser to read the translated documentation.


Comments or questions? Please subscribe to the Photini mailing list https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/photini and let us know.