[Phpwebsite-developers] Re: phpws Internationalisation

[Matthew M. <ma...@tu...>]

> To those of you who might have expecting me much earlier: Please
> excuse - I hope the birth of a daughter is reason enough to postpone a
> couple of hacking activities. ;)

We'll let it slide.

> My basic motivation is that I am running a bunch of web sites based on
> phpws and that I would like to get my custom code supported.

That's what you all want!

>  Well - you might say: That's what we all want.

oh... nevermind.

> Multi-Language-Capability.
> 
> Hold on. Doesn't phpws provide that with the language module? Yes, it
> does. But, despite the great documentation of this module, I think it
> is far too complicated for the regular user to integrate some
> important core modules (such as pagemaster).

You are being far too kind. The language support stinks.

> So what can be done?

Here is what _will_ be done in 0.9.4.

1) Language will not be handled by a module. It will be handled by PO
files: http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/gettext.html
PO files are widely used and there are several editors for them.

2) A i18n push. Before 0.9.4 comes out officially, we will ask
translators to try and use the po file format. Once the volunteers sign
off on it, we will work on creating a depository of translation files.

3) We will try and make sure that anglo-oriented functions like date()
are replaced with i18n friendly functions (like strftime() ).

> Secondly, I think that there should be a recommendation that phpws
> mods should be tested regarding their lang mod integratability,
> ideally related code would be already shipped with the mods and could
> be activated by a flag. I am offering to help coordinating this effort
> and to provide sort of I18N feedback to mod developers. If I knew who
> they are ....

I think that is sound. Once 0.9.4 comes out, I suggest a module page
that includes information on what version it is running, when the last
update was, and what languages it supports. 

> ... - which brings me to the third activity I'd like to initiate: A
> more structured family of web sites where information like this can
> easily be found by the regular user. I think I am an experienced web
> user, but I often found myself lost in the large world of
> phpws-support-sites.

I would like to see that as well. However, and this is not to slight you
Ulf, but there have been MANY people who have offered their help only to
quietly fade away. Some stick around (Mike, Kenneth, Don, Shaun, and
others I am leaving out) but most get busy with other things.

So, while I would welcome this level of support, it really is dependent
on the community. We help when we can, but we have to concentrate on
programming and, more importantly, our duty to the university (who pay
us). 

Welcome to the community, and we hope to hear more from you in the
future. I would also ask that you stay tuned for the 0.9.4 release so we
can make a smooth translation transition.

Best regards,
Matt

-- 
Matthew McNaney
Internet Systems Architect
Electronic Student Services
Appalachian State University
Phone: 828-262-6493
http://phpwebsite.appstate.edu
http://ess.appstate.edu