Author Archives: Zé Fontainhas

Zé Fontainhas 10:36 am on December 11, 2014  

A question for the Twenty Fifteen authors and…

A question for the Twenty Fifteen authors and fellow polyglots, concerning these strings, and their format for screen readers.

Example:

<span class="meta-nav">Next <span class="screen-reader-text">post: </span></span><span class="post-title">%title</span>

If your language uses a different order, i.e. “Artigo seguinte (en: Post next)”, instead of “Next post”, which is the proper way to translate and keep screen readers happy? The space after “Next” is also intriguing.

Zé Fontainhas 9:39 pm on September 25, 2014
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Since many of you will be at WordCamp…

Since many of you will be 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 this week-end, and may notice my absence, I suppose that this is as good a moment as any to announce that I am stepping down as the “lead” (never too sure what to call it) of the Polyglots’ team.

It has been a fantastic run of more than 5 years, and I am not leaving in anger or anything like it; instead, as it so often happens, a combination of reasons from both my personal as well as my professional life dictate that I must step back, for an indeterminate amount of time (this decision affects not only Polyglots, but also my presence as WordCamp organizer, including Europe 2014, and forums’ volunteer, among others, by the way).

I have discussed this with both @samuelsidler and @nacin, and we are working on a smooth transition plan, which means that I’ll probably be dealing with operational issues for just a bit longer, but I expect that Sofia will be the perfect occasion to kick off the debate on that (just make sure to report back here).

Also, you won’t be completely rid of me: I am not moving to the Galapagos 🙂 and will probably hang around as one of the translators of pt_PT: as usual, feel free to pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” me at any time, about whatever, whenever you need to, keeping in mind that, from now on, I will only have opinions to offer, not solutions.

In closing, I’d just like to add that I have made many great and (I hope) lasting friendships here, which I fully intend to keep and that I will remember my days here, with all of you, with fondness and gratitude.

Thank you and happy translating 🙂

#announcement

Zé Fontainhas 3:07 pm on August 11, 2014  

Trying to wrap my head around the 4.0…

Trying to wrap my head around the 4.0 silence, here are a few personal thoughts. They’re not directed at anyone in particular, as I can’t judge other factors that may be impacting the issue, and are just an attempt at trying to summarize the issue (this one issue, obviously; there are others):

  • 4.0 is coming and we have, yet again, no string freezeString freeze The term "string freeze" is used by the core team to mark the end of changes to the strings of an upcoming release. A string freeze also means that there will be no more strings added to the core project. Sometimes a string freeze has two phases a soft freeze and a hard freeze. A string freeze is announced on the Polyglots blog by the current release lead.
  • We have no Dev project in Translate with 4.0’s stringsString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings.
  • It’s August. In many places around the world people are on holidays, which makes the effort to translate and validate what will most certainly be a torrent of new strings nearly impossible
  • We keep hearing about (and seeing in betas) the monumental (and very laudable) effort to focus on localisation
  • We were announced this: no one on polyglots that I know was involved in any kind of defining discussion prior to this announcement
  • As far as I can tell, no polyglot is involved in the current discussion either. Granted, this may be due to a lack of initiative to participate, but, given the above, an understandable one
  • The bare minimum would be to provide some feedback. We all understand that schedules are tight and contribution is voluntary, but a little heads-up goes a very long way.

Summing up, what we see is our work, defined outside this group, piling up, with what seems the expectation that “oh, polyglots will translate when everything else has been taken care of”, apparently oblivious the fact that we’re responsible for providing WordPress for more than half of total downloads worldwide.

If you feel that you have something to add, do discuss the points as you see fit, but please keep the debate civil, polite and constructive. We all (and I mean all) work hard, disrespect has no place here.

Zé Fontainhas 5:41 pm on May 24, 2014  

Following the guidelines for links on Rosetta site’s…

Following the guidelines for links on 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. site’s, discussed earlier, here’s a suggested procedure for implementing said guidelines. In a nutshell, when offending links are found on a Rosetta site:

  • Validators will be contacted, and given two weeks to clean them
  • If, after those two weeks, the situation remains, and no reply is forthcoming, another, sterner, warning will be sent, giving them another week to clean those links
  • Once that week has gone by, and if nothing has changed, validators will simply be warned on the day before that the links will be forcibly removed
Zé Fontainhas 11:53 pm on May 15, 2014  

Since Rosetta sites are in flux to a…

Since 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 are in flux to a more robust and usable form, here’s a suggestion of guidelines for everyone to comment on.

They concern linking from your language’s Rosetta site to the outside; some links to third-party (external) community sites, such as local community sites and links to community support forums (until that feature is added for your 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/ on 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/) are accepted practice. In the best interest of the WordPress project, additional expectations are listed here:

1. Rosetta sites are expected to benefit the WordPress community rather than specific business(es) or individual(s).  (Note the general expectations for translating WordPress.)

2. To avoid any conflict of interest, it’s expected that validators and translators will not use their own sites as examples of good WordPress sites in their showcase.  The WordPress community is large and examples of WordPress sites are very easy to find.

3. Rosetta sites are expected to avoid advertising and affiliate marketing and to link only to websites that benefit the local community.

Zé Fontainhas 2:21 pm on April 16, 2014  

I’m receiving a bunch of Rosetta Deploy Requests…

I’m receiving a bunch of 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. DeployDeploy Launching code from a local development environment to the production web server, so that it's available to visitors. Requests, and this usually happens just before a new release. Please keep in mind that deployingDeploy Launching code from a local development environment to the production web server, so that it's available to visitors. rosetta is in no way related to building and releasing a new package. The process simply and only deploys translations of your xx.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 itself.

Zé Fontainhas 12:36 pm on March 23, 2014  

@nacin looks like a typo not sure this…

@nacin looks like a typo (not sure this is a coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. ticket, do tell me if it belongs elsewhere)

https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/27493

Zé Fontainhas 5:08 pm on February 25, 2014  

And now for a little housekeeping It’s time…

And now for a little housekeeping: It’s time to choose a team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts..

What is a team rep?

The team rep has two major roles:

  • Report what’s happening with polyglots to the make/updates P2p2 "p2" is the name of the theme that blogs at make.wordpress.org use (and o2 is the accompanying plugin). When asked to post something "on the p2" by a member of the Polyglots team, that usually means you're asked to post on the team blog https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/. so other teams can keep up.
  • Report what’s happening with other teams back to the 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/.

For more information see this post on the make/updates P2.

Who’s eligible?

Any member of the polyglots team (all of us here) is eligible to serve as team rep.

How will team reps be elected?

Since we’re a large team, all those interested in being a team rep should nominate themselves by commenting on this post. You can also nominate someone other than yourself.

On Sunday we’ll post a poll here with the list of nominations for all of you to vote on. The top two candidates will serve as team rep and backup team rep.

Other questions

If you have any questions about the role, feel free to ask in the comments.

Zé Fontainhas 11:18 am on February 13, 2014  

Chat set for today at 22:00 UTC #wordpress…

Chat set for today at 22:00 UTC, #wordpress-polyglots on IRC

Zé Fontainhas 8:42 pm on February 5, 2014
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Started a Doodle to try and schedule a…

Started a Doodle to try and schedule a team chat on IRC. Feel free to add your name and availabilty. Thanks.

#chat

Zé Fontainhas 10:30 am on November 25, 2013
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Next chat on #wordpress polyglots IRC on the…

Next chat on #wordpress-polyglots (IRC) on the 3rd of December, at 21:00 UTC. (See below why).

Proposed agenda (feel free to add):

  • Team structure
  • Procedures for dealing with dormant translations
  • Meta plans
  • Access to current tools

#chat

Zé Fontainhas 2:58 pm on November 22, 2013  

Sorry to upset everyone’s schedule but I’d like…

Sorry to upset everyone’s schedule, but I’d like to suggest to push the chat to December, 2nd, so that @nacin can be present. Does it work?

Zé Fontainhas 11:20 am on November 22, 2013  

Either I’m doing something wrong or else the…

Either I’m doing something wrong, or else the sync isn’t working properly. Case in point, these two stringsString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings. have been obsoleted by this changeset (which is 9 hours old now), but the originals still list the old ones, here and here.

Zé Fontainhas 9:33 pm on November 21, 2013  

I’m calling a general polyglots chat on #wordpress…

I’m calling a general polyglots chat on #wordpress-polyglots for the 25th of November, at 21:00 UTC (tentative). Does that work for most of you? Any other suggestions if it doesn’t?

Zé Fontainhas 7:34 pm on November 17, 2013  

I think we pretty much all agree that…

I think we pretty much all agree that the Codex pages below suck, are outdated, and serve no real purpose:

  • https://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_in_Your_Language
  • https://codex.wordpress.org/L10n:Localization_Teams
  • https://codex.wordpress.org/L10n:Teams_Currently_Forming

Here’s a crazy idea:

Who, in this brilliant group of people, thinks she or he can develop the code needed to show the correct (and automatically updated) information on this P2p2 "p2" is the name of the theme that blogs at make.wordpress.org use (and o2 is the accompanying plugin). When asked to post something "on the p2" by a member of the Polyglots team, that usually means you're asked to post on the team blog https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/., via shortcodeShortcode A shortcode is a placeholder used within a WordPress post, page, or widget to insert a form or function generated by a plugin in a specific location on your site., or otherwise? Ideally (and to keep it as simple as possible, it would list:

  • Language name (both English and local)
  • Link to the site
  • Team members’ (editors and validators) gravatarGravatar Is an acronym for Globally Recognized Avatar. It is the avatar system managed by WordPress.com, and used within the WordPress software. https://gravatar.com/. cards

Premises:

  • xx.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/ sites are part of a single multisiteMultisite Multisite is a WordPress feature which allows users to create a network of sites on a single WordPress installation. Available since WordPress version 3.0, Multisite is a continuation of WPMU or WordPress Multiuser project. WordPress MultiUser project was discontinued and its features were included into WordPress core.https://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network. install
  • Nice code, i.e. guidelines! sanitize all the things! and so on
  • Whichever code we agree on will need to be reviewed (and possibly adapted) to run on wordpress.org
  • No guarantees that it’ll actually be implemented, but we need to start showing initiative ourselves.

We have many (very) capable devs here, let’s show some firepower, shall we?