[Translators-l] New translation template

[Jesse Martin (Pathoschild)]

Hello,

At Cbrown1023's request, I've created a new translation template to
fix the {{#ifexist}} problem with the current templates. For those who
don't know about it, all pages using the current translation templates
will break in the near future when the developers implement a limit of
100 {{#ifexist}} checks per page (the templates use 117). See the
announcement at <
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2007-November/035316.html
>.

I've worked with a few other translators to make it a complete
improvement over the current set of templates. You can try it yourself
on < http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Privacy_policy >; in particular,
try clicking on the "+/-" link at the top of the template to edit it,
or click on "(needed)" beside the example red link at the bottom of
the list to start a new translation.

If there are any improvements or features you think would be useful,
please reply on this mailing list. A summary of current improvements:
==Usability==
* There are no longer any "/source" and "/status" subpages for every
set of pages. (You can edit a simplified template directly, and the
original page is specified in the template.)
* When starting a new translation, it is no longer necessary to save
the page before starting. The text is editable from the first edit.
* The template recognizes over 3000 languages and allows others
(without the language name), instead of only 117.
* The translation list format has been greatly simplified and
compacted, so it is much easier to see the status of current
translations at a glance, and it is less intrusive.
* The different statuses have been simplified to "missing",
"progress", "proofreading", "updating", or "published" (the old system
used "wait", "created", "started", "translated", "copyedited",
"updated", "finished", or "published"). This makes it easier for
spontaneous translation without transcom needing to organize it.
* Clicking a link to edit a template or start a discussion
automatically brings up complete instructions.

==Technical==
* {{#ifexist}} problem fixed.
* The number of templates has been reduced to a dozen or so per page
to three, which makes it much easier to maintain.
* The code is simpler and more intuitive (to those who understand
complex template coding).
* All translation templates are automatically categorized and
documented,  so it's no longer necessary to copy and paste comments or
categories.

==Others==
There are a lot of other changes I've lost track of over the last few
days; try it yourself and see. :)

--
Yours cordially,
Jesse Martin (Pathoschild)