[Kbabel] Google Summer of Code: Implement support for OASIS XLIFF 1.1 in KBabel

[Stanislav Visnovsky]

Dňa Wednesday 29 of June 2005 02:10 Asgeir Frimannsson napísal:
> Hi folks,
>
> I've been accepted for the Google Summer of Code program, and will be
> working heavily on KBabel over the next two months... ..So I thought
> I'd start off by introducing the project :) See below for my proposal.
>
> KBabel currently has some support for QT TS files and XLIFF, but the
> underlaying datamodel is very strongly built around the PO format. In
> order to support a rich format such as XLIFF we need to refactor the
> data model (KBabel::Catalog).
>
> Now, changing a data model for an application is never trivial, and
> I've only got 2 months to do the initial work. To make it doable, I
> would like to limit the scope of the project to the Kbabel Editor, and
> exclude Catalog Manager support and KBabelDict.

It's enough to fix the editor. Catalog Manager does not depend on the model 
that much. For KBabelDict, it really depends. I think the basic idea of 
original and translated texts is fine - so not too much work in there as 
well.

>
> I would like, if feasible, to do the development in a QT4 environment,
> so I'll spend a few days now first trying to port it to QT4. If that
> works, I'll branch it from there and start working on implementing
> XLIFF support. If however the porting is too complicated (I'm not
> *that* familiar with QT yet..) I'll go with QT3..
>
> Any thoughts or help (KDE4 porting anyone?) on the above issues would
> be greatly appreciated!

Basically, QTextEdit API has changed completely again. That will be the 
biggest problem.

IMO we should create a branch for KBabel for Qt4. I would like to help you 
with porting.

Stano

>
> I'll be on freenode's #kde-soc as well as #kde-devel
>
> cheers,
> asgeir
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Asgeir Frimannsson <asgeirf at gmail.com>
> Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2005 22:08:24 +1000
> Subject: Bounty proposal: Implement support for OASIS XLIFF 1.1 in KBabel
> To: bounties at kde.org
> Cc: visnovsky at kde.org
>
> Hello KDE folks,
>
> As I'm graduating mid-July, I have a bounty proposal I would like to take
> on for the Google Summer of Code. I propose KBabel maintainer Stanislav
> Visnovsky (cc'd) as a mentor.
>
> [Name and Email]
> Asgeir Frimannsson <asgeirf at gmail.com>
>
> [About Me]
> I'm 24 years old, Norwegian, but have been living in Brisbane Australia the
> last 4 years. Currently completing Bachelor of Information Technology
> (Honours) at Queensland University of Technology, graduating mid-July. In
> my final year I've been receiving a scholarship from Red Hat for working on
> a thesis entitled 'Adopting Standards Based XML File Formats in Open Source
> Localisation'. In this research I've been looking at current localisation
> practices in open source, and identified ways of improving the localisation
> process through adopting industry standards such as the XML Localisation
> File Format (XLIFF), the TermBase eXchange (TBX) file format, the
> Translation Memory eXchange (TMX) file format and Translation Web Services.
> I'm hoping to continue this research as a Ph.d. student starting later this
> year.
> I have previous experience in open source through maintaining the XLIFF
> Tools project [http://xliff-tools.freedesktop.org/] as part of my honours
> project, and have previously also submitted patches and worked on KBabel
> and GNU Gettext (KDE svn account name 'asgeir').
>
> [Project Title]
> Implement support for OASIS XLIFF 1.1 in KBabel
>
> [Synopsis]
> Localisation of open source (including KDE and Gnome) is in a majority of
> projects handled by the GNU Gettext library and the associated PO file
> format. The PO file format is a simple string table used by translators to
> translate the English sources to their native language. Several tools
> exists for editing PO files, and the most used (and most advanced) of these
> is KDE's KBabel.
> In recent years, industry standards have been developed in the area of
> software localisation, including the OASIS XLIFF file format for storage
> and exchange of localisable resources in the localisation process. The
> philosophy behind XLIFF is to extract resources from native formats into a
> common standard localisation format (XLIFF), and merge the translated
> resources back into the native format when translation is complete. Filters
> and specifications for converting to and from XLIFF have been developed for
> a number of file types, including PO, HTML and DocBook. KBabel has very
> limited support for XLIFF, and this project aims to implement support for
> many of the rich features of XLIFF, including abstraction of inline codes,
> viewing/approval of translation suggestions, viewing of context information
> and the ability for translators to attach notes to translations.
>
> [Goals]
>  1) Contribute to making KBabel the best open source XLIFF localisation
> tool 2) Expand KBabel's user base by implementing support for localisation
> industry standard file formats.
>
> By implementing support for the industry standard XLIFF format in KBabel,
> the KDE project will have a fully fledged native XLIFF localisation tool.
> As we move towards and beyond KDE 4, we then have a stronger argument for
> considering adopting XLIFF in KDE's localisation process, with its inherent
> benefits:
> - Better handling of context information (by not including context as part
> of the source string)
> - Abstraction of inline codes such as XML tags and parameters
> - Identification and tagging of terms (better terminology management)
> - Easy adoption of new formats in the localisation process (all you need is
> a filter to/from xliff)
> - Inclusion of translation suggestions (possibility of future server based
> translation memory)
> - Allow translators / developers to add comments to translations.
> - Better change tracking (tracking of who translated what)
> - All the benefits of XML based processing
>
> [Project Details]
> The XLIFF file format is a very rich super-set of the PO format, and hence,
> some of the underlying data model in KBabel may change in the process,
> allowing support for features such as context info, translation
> suggestions, hierarchical data structures, inline codes, sub-segmentation,
> translator comments and other meta-data. The first step of this process
> will be (if not already done when starting) to port KBabel to QT4 (need
> some help here). After the initial porting to QT4, XLIFF features can be
> added incrementally, starting with the most important ones:
> - Honouring common attributes (such as fuzzy handling, translate yes/no)
> - Abstraction of inline codes (with some visual elements representing tags)
> - Display of context information
> - View / Add notes
> - view / approve translation suggestions
> - Workflow meta-data such as 'phase' information
> I realize that there is also a looming usability issue here, as KBabel is
> becoming more and more bloated with features, some serious evaluation is
> also needed in considering how to best implement the rich features of XLIFF
> in a way that's user friendly to translators.
>
> [Project Schedule]
> June 24: Project Start (I finish exams June 23)
> June 24- July 10: Discuss requirements / Design & port to QT4
> July 10 - Sept 1: Incrementally implements XLIFF features in KBabel
> Sept 1: Project deadline
>
> [Motivation]
> My main motivation is to make the localisation process more user friendly
> so that more potential translators can contribute. I see XLIFF as the long
> term solution to many of the challenges facing open source localisation,
> and the format provides a way of standardizing the localisation processes
> across open source projects.
> I am also a big KDE-fan, and would like to get more hands-on experience in
> KDE/QT/C++ development - I want to contribute, and not just observe :)
>
> That's about it. Let me know if you are interested in this :)
>
> cheers,
> asgeir
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