[Foundation-l] Localisation of MediaWiki

[Cormac Lawler]

On Jan 15, 2008 11:24 AM, Gerard Meijssen <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hoi,
> Localisation is best done centrally. Localisation of a project locally
> should only be done on those messages that are distinctly different from
> what is valid for other projects. These are messages that have to do with
> local policies.
>
> When you are of the opinion that the requirements for first projects and
> subsequent projects should be the same, you are arguing for a substantial
> increase to the entry level for a project because from my point of view we
> would demand full localisation of both MediaWiki messages and extensions
> of
> the WMF. This is in my opinion not reasonable. I agree with you that
> localisation should be a continuous process. It is for this reason that
> only
> for subsequent projects full localisation is required.



When I asked that first and subsequent projects be treated the same (with
respect to localisation), I meant that projects would be allowed to begin
with *the same* localisation requirements as has been done in the past
(particularly, as Aphaia points out, projects without full localisation seem
to work). Or perhaps this should be 'more or less the same' requirements -
there might be some new messages that would be good for new projects to
have. I say this because it does not seem reasonable to ask new projects to
fully localise all MediaWiki messages on top of their other work in getting
a project started. Proposing a new project can be a confusing enough
process, requiring people to navigate multiple wikis and jump through
various hoops - this only adds to that confusion and stress. What I propose,
therefore, is that localisation become a continuous project undertaken by
pan-project language communities or 'taskforces'. This seems to be what you
are saying when you say localisation should be done centrally (ie on
BetaWiki) - so why place the extra burden on new projects?

Cormac