Jon (Kenshino) 8:38 am on February 25, 2019
Tags: Documentation ( 5 ), helphub ( 2 ), rosetta ( 111 )

HelpHub Localisation Plan

Hi! This is Jon from docs team. This post outlines our plan for localising HelpHub for Rosetta sites. HelpHub is currently live on English wordpress.org site and can be accessed from https://wordpress.org/support/ (e.g. https://wordpress.org/support/category/getting-started/ ).

We’d like Polyglots teamPolyglots Team Polyglots Team is a group of multilingual translators who work on translating plugins, themes, documentation, and front-facing marketing copy. https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/.’s input to make this translation as smoothly as possible.

Background

At WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Europe (Summit) we discussed the localisationLocalization Localization (sometimes shortened to "l10n") is the process of adapting a product or service to a particular language, culture, and desired local "look-and-feel." of WordPress systems such as DevHub and HelpHub.

We recognised that GlotPressGlotPress GlotPress is the translation management software that powers Translate.WordPress.org. More information is available at glotpress.org. was not great for long-form translation and we evaluated the possibility of actually re-engineering GlotPress (or at least translate.wordpress.orgtranslate.wordpress.org The platform for contributing to the translation of WordPress core, themes and plugins.) to work for it. But this is a huge undertaking and it may involve formalisation of the whole of WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/’s translation.

So it was indicated it might be best for HelpHub to look at translation out of GlotPress.

Therefore HelpHub was designed as a stand-alone pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party that could be activated at numerous places such as RosettaRosetta The code name of the theme for the local WordPress sites (eg. bg.wordpress.org is a “Rosetta” site). All locale specific WordPress sites are referred to as “Rosetta sites.” The name was inspired from the ancient Rosetta Stone, which contained more or less the same text in three different languages. sites.

Plan Phases (Proposal)

Phase 1

Goals

Test HelpHub localisation on one localeLocale Locale = language version, often a combination of a language code and a region code, for instance es_MX denotes Spanish as it’s used in Mexico. A list of all locales supported by WordPress in https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/’s Rosetta site.
Migrate existing English content, but update notification/diff will not be available yet.

Candidate LocalesLocale Locale = language version, often a combination of a language code and a region code, for instance es_MX denotes Spanish as it’s used in Mexico. A list of all locales supported by WordPress in https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/

Japanese, since they maintain their own Codex site with a large number of docs
French (France), since they want to set up a fr_FR Documentation team (~10 volunteers for the moment)

Process

Activate HelpHub plugin on Rosetta [MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress.]
1. Need Meta help as Rosetta sites are likely on a different network
Migrate English content over (without activating HelpHub’s home interface) [Locale Team]
1. Explore automated process (but unlikely due to WordPress.org infra)
2. At this phase, this may need to be a manual process
3. If manual process, adapt and refine tracking system of migrationMigration Moving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies. designed by Docs Team
Translation by locale team based on English contents [Locale Team]
Possibly re-take related screenshots in locale language [Locale Team]
1. Create a list of needed screenshots so other locale’s volunteers can contribute as needed
Development work to link English and localised content [Meta]
Define a syndication plan to track updates of the English version and trigger notifications to localisation team [Meta] [Docs]
Activate HelpHub’s home interface on the Rosetta (just this test locale) on /support [Meta]
Adjust the documentation links on the Rosetta site from Codex to HelpHub [Locale Team]
“Push” forums link back to /support/forums [Meta]
Redirect locale’s version of Codex or support materials to locale HelpHub (e.g. https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Redirects) [Locale Team]
Establish communication channel between English HelpHub and locale teams [Docs] [Locale Team]
Write a blog post on the locale news page to announce the move of user support resources [Locale Team]
Do a retrospective and identify pain points [Docs] [Locale Team]
Refine Phase 1 Plan for other locales based on first candidate [Docs]

Phase 2

Goal

Roll out the localisation to more Rosetta sites.

Process

Enable HelpHub plugin on active Rosetta site (individual sign up) [Meta]
1. What happens to teams without active volunteers? Maybe we’ll show English docs on their site
2. Explore the possibility of showing machine-translated content
Allow main WordPress.org to reveal that there are other locales’ HelpHubs/Support [Meta]
(To be determined)

+make.wordpress.org/docs

#documentation, #helphub, #rosetta

Tor-Bjorn Fjellner 10:58 am on February 25, 2019

Depending on available resources and different needs, various localeLocale Locale = language version, often a combination of a language code and a region code, for instance es_MX denotes Spanish as it’s used in Mexico. A list of all locales supported by WordPress in https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/ teams may have quite different ambition levels. How to combine this with notifications about changes AND at the same time be able to reuse existing translations is a tricky question.
I guess we’d need to use versioning for documents. So that the translated version could be, say, version 37 and there might be an automatic message added that the original currently is at, say version 39, with an invitation to browse a merged document with the new stringsString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings. in English and a possibility to contribute to the translation.
Besnik 12:58 pm on February 25, 2019

Here again gettext comes in handy.
If the pages are converted in .po filesPO files PO files are human readable files which contain translations we use. These files are not used by WordPress itself. Each language will have its own PO file, for example, for French there would be a fr_FR.po file, for german there would be a de_DE.po, for British English there might be en_GB.po., tracking changes is as simple as it is currently for any .po file of WordPress project (coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress., plugins, themes, whatever).
Can the pages be converted in .po files? For most of the document formats we already have converters, so there shouldn’t be any issue here.
Using .po files won’t require any change to GlotPressGlotPress GlotPress is the translation management software that powers Translate.WordPress.org. More information is available at glotpress.org.. Also it will give translators the possibility of using any TMX (built up over the previous translation work for WordPress things), with all the positive effects that bring to translation speed and consistency.

Versioning should follow WordPress releases. Or we just decide to have one set, tied to the newest stable release of WordPress.
- Naoko Takano 1:12 am on February 26, 2019
  
  It’s possible, for example:
  https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/4139
  https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/4004
  
  While this is great in terms of version control, I’m not sure if this will always work for keeping all pages up-to-date. Will the Docs team be converting documentation pages into gettexted stringsString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings.?
- Sergey Biryukov 5:59 pm on February 27, 2019
  
  One of the options to track changes could be reusing the `Text_Diff` library bundled with WordPress. It’s currently used to show differences between revisionsRevisions The WordPress revisions system stores a record of each saved draft or published update. The revision system allows you to see what changes were made in each revision by dragging a slider (or using the Next/Previous buttons). The display indicates what has changed in each revision. of a post, which seems like exactly what we need to track changes to the original text. Just need to store the last translated revision ID somewhere.
Jon (Kenshino) 7:50 am on March 11, 2019

Hey – so we had some very basic tech plans, totally should have shared it.

The coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. belief here is that the English team will keep updating the docs – while the RosettaRosetta The code name of the theme for the local WordPress sites (eg. bg.wordpress.org is a “Rosetta” site). All locale specific WordPress sites are referred to as “Rosetta sites.” The name was inspired from the ancient Rosetta Stone, which contained more or less the same text in three different languages. teams have autonomy to manage their docs as needed.

We’re not expecting the rosetta HelpHub docs to be updated to a strict timeline but we do think a direct line between the Docs Team and the Rosetta teams would be essential.

1. We want to leverage on the REST APIREST API The REST API is an acronym for the RESTful Application Program Interface (API) that uses HTTP requests to GET, PUT, POST and DELETE data. It is how the front end of an application (think “phone app” or “website”) can communicate with the data store (think “database” or “file system”) https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/.. There are future plans to make the REST API endpoints useful to people who want to pull in the articles into their own sites
2. In the translation front and keeping things somewhat synchronised – we’re planning to register a new version-number metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. where a version number can be pulled via e.g./wp/v2/articles/id

In the rosetta site – there should be a custom pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party (not yet built) that does 2 things
1. Put up notifications in an admin page where the English HelpHub docs are updated)
2. Allow the rosetta site to pre-populate their version of HelpHub with the default English docs using the REST API (this can also be manually done via an WXR export/import, assuming that the Rosetta sites have less restrictions than on the core WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ site)

The plugin on the rosetta will do a periodic check against the article on WordPress.org The article revisionsRevisions The WordPress revisions system stores a record of each saved draft or published update. The revision system allows you to see what changes were made in each revision by dragging a slider (or using the Next/Previous buttons). The display indicates what has changed in each revision. custom meta (not to be confused with the default revisions system in WordPress will be compared. If the English docs have a more updated number, a notification will be set for the rosetta docs team to check in and update their translations.

We’ll also have to set up either some sort of a comparison system to check if entire new articles have been added to HelpHub. Or maybe more simply a changelog to be provided on a regular basis.

The above are not set in stone and still require a lot more fleshing out. There is a new meta-helphub channel on SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. that we can pick up the tech discussions at!
Milana Cap 5:08 pm on March 12, 2019

Here’s the Doodle for planned zoom meeting. It covers next week.

https://doodle.com/poll/imvtytta65r8unn3
Naoko Takano 7:24 am on March 27, 2019

FYI, notes from the latest meeting. https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/2019/03/27/helphub-localisation-plan-meeting-notes/

Translate WordPress

Weekly Meetings

Posting here

HelpHub Localisation Plan

Background

Plan Phases (Proposal)

Phase 1

Goals

Candidate LocalesLocale Locale = language version, often a combination of a language code and a region code, for instance es_MX denotes Spanish as it’s used in Mexico. A list of all locales supported by WordPress in https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/

Process

Phase 2

Goal

Process

Translate WordPress

Weekly Meetings

Posting here

Background

Plan Phases (Proposal)

Phase 1

Goals

Candidate LocalesLocale Locale = language version, often a combination of a language code and a region code, for instance es_MX denotes Spanish as it’s used in Mexico. A list of all locales supported by WordPress in https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/

Process

Phase 2

Goal

Process

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