Development Seed Blog

More Localization Servers Coming Online

So now we have this nice localization server that's still in alpha version but is already quite useful to do translations - particularly community translations. Now instead of using the old issue tracker and cvs method which worked but was not very user friendly, we have a web interface that any user can use to post translation suggestions, and then these suggestions can be approved - or rejected - with a single click and added to the exportable po file.

We at Drupal Hispano just couldn't wait to see it installed on drupal.org, so we've set up our own localization server for the Spanish speaking Drupal community. 

It seems that other local communities have had the same idea, including the Norwegian, French, and Dutch communities (thanks to Jo Wouters at Krimson for telling me about the Dutch translation work that's happening).

We've just started and the site is not mature yet, but it is working for a few projects and releases and gives a glimpse as to what is possible. The localization server, using the local package connector, allows full control over which projects and releases are imported. It also allows for translation team management, integration with Organic Groups, and an approval workflow in which some users may post translation suggestions and others may review and approve them.

So the next time I come across a translation I can fix or add, I can now just go to the translation site and post my suggestion. Or if I have a better translation already exported in a file, I can post the file to the site and then it can be imported and stored as a translation suggestion for later review.

We're definitely going to handle the Spanish translation using this system from now on. Hopefully we'll get a great Drupal 6 translation done quickly and at the same time help test this great tool so we can have it running on drupal.org as soon as possible.

Although the module is aimed at improving the translation of Drupal core, its modules, and the files for projects, it could also be used to handle the translation of large sites that sometimes require customization. Since the module allows for having different sets of strings and a separate site for translators to do their work that permits them to import and export po files, I can see how a large site could benefit from using it to do their translation.

So go on and check out the potential the Localization Server has to make collaborative translations easy for Drupal. If you're a native Spanish speaker, you can even help to make the Drupal 6 release in Spanish the most complete to date. I should warn you that it's addictive, kind of like an online game, and when you start playing with it, whether by posting new translations or moderating ones posted by other people, it's hard to stop :-)

Note: Since we're using this site to do the real Spanish translation of Drupal, please only use it if you're a native Spanish speaker - any practice entries will just slow up our translation efforts.