Re: [libreoffice-website] Re: Update on Drupal Website Progress

I didn't want to add to the huge mail already.
I still think something here is lost in translation, or maybe the
drupal terminology.
Drupal is not about taking away control of pages from native language
teams! It is about bringing everyone together under one roof.


We are not suggesting each page for all languages has to be exactly
the same down to each sentence or paragraph or image. The idea is that
a common framework contributed to and agreed by all stakeholders will
enrich all languages on the site as is the concept with the
LibreOffice software. It will also allow easier entry for people in
minority languages to get more involved and create a local language
version of the main LibreOffice website very easily (One thing that is
largely missing at the moment in Silverstripe).

The actual words on the interface such as "Why" as you referred can
Easily be translated into locally relevant terms. For example it would
not be translated to "Pourquoi", it might be translated to
"Caractéristiques" or "Vaut-il mieux" (Sorry, I am sure they are bad
examples). To give a better example the manually translated download
page might be at fr.libreoffice.org/Telecharger the title would not be
'Download' it might be "telechargement-de-libreoffice", it's up to you
.The point is that while the framework stays the same URLs, Titles,
Headings, Content, Layout, Menu names, Links etc. can be changed to
suit your language. Please do not take "framework" to mean literal
translation of terms.

What I mean by structure or framework is this:
Landing page
 -Somewhere to download LibreOffice
     -Somewhere to download LibreOffice for Windows
     -Somewhere to download LibreOffice for Mac
     -Somewhere to download LibreOffice for Linux.
 -Somewhere to find out about LibreOffice Features
 -Somwwhere to Get support for LibreOffice
 -Somewhere to join the LibreOffice Community
 -Somewhere to get news about LibreOffice
 -etc.
(Note I am being very non-specific, because everything else can be
localised including URLS, terminology, page content, EVERYTHING ELSE)

To give an Extreme example, the Brazilian team may choose to label
everything BrOffice, this will still function as expected under this
common framework, but even the term most fundamental to the
LibreOffice project can be changed to suit local teams requirements.

Having a separate local group website seperate from the main one is
not prohibited, in fact it is encouraged (I have already registered
libreofficeaustralia.org). For the main site the Steering Committee
has directed us towards Drupal which provides this type of
multicultural integration and relevant internationalisation very well
on one infrastructure.

Any resources on Drupal (templates, extensions, designs) can also be
localised and translated if required. Also having a common pool of
untranslated resources (whether they are automatically translatable or
not) allows people in minority languages access to resources they
would not normally get with a small local user base, which they can
translate and resubmit if they wish to. This type of infrastructure
would be very difficult to setup on another CMS like silverstripe.

Local Team site and communications:
I fully support local teams and development inside that community, I
believe it would be good for transparency, efficiency and
collaboration if people could peek inside and on rare occasion
contribute. Do you disagree?

To conclude, I have been to the French version of the Silverstripe
site and it currently does not differ in "framework" from any other
language (Not to get mixed up with literally translated phrases, but
the underlying meaning of individual parts of the site).
Are there plans to modify this site away from the underlying framework
that currently exists, and if there are plans would the changes also
benefit other language groups if implemented there? = This is what
Drupal is about.

Please let me know if I am not being crystal clear about anything.
I value your concern as I understand that in the past not speaking
English was like being a second class web citizen, but rest assured
the plan is to embrace equality.

Michael Wheatland

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