Words and what not

Preferential treatment

2012-01-03T21:56:00.001+01:00

The latest #translatewiki.net localisation rally had a twist. To qualify, the localisation for the Kiwix and the Wikipedia Mobile applications had to be completed for the language before MediaWiki messages were accepted.

Our thinking was: the most used messages are typically already complete and at this time growth of our content is very much taking place off-line or on a mobile phone.

For mobile phone use we have statistics that show a growth of 144% compared with last year December. Our support for mobile phones and the support for different writing systems on mobile phones is improving. As more people buy increasingly sophisticated mobiles, this growth may even increase.

During the localisation rally 30 additional languages were completed for Kiwix bringing the total to 65. For Wikipedia Mobile we now support 68 languages completely. We hope that our December 2011 rally sets the stage for a wonderful 2012 with even more people sharing in the sum of all knowledge.
Thanks,
GerardM

#Localisation rally for #MediaWiki and #Kiwix

2011-09-12T20:10:00.000+02:00

The #translatewiki.net localisation rally is finished. The results particularly for Kiwix are great. Thanks to the addition of 2,672 messages Kiwix is now fully localised in 53 languages. This makes it much easier for people to use our content off-line.

When you read the announcement of the results, it is particularly smaller languages that have benefited with the exception of traditional Chinese. When you look at the statistics, there are more languages that could have benefited from the rally and/or from more localisations.

This time the benefit to translators is EUR 37.50. The benefit to the users of the 20 languages however is where this rally makes a real difference.
Thanks,
GerardM

#Localisation rally for #MediaWiki and #Kiwix

2011-09-05T18:57:00.000+02:00

The Dutch #Wikimedia chapter sponsors #translatewiki.net regularly to run a translation rally. Such a rally serves multiple purposes;

to bring the necessity of localisation to the front
to support the localisation of MediaWiki and Kiwix
to make the MediaWiki projects more usable

Internationalisation and localisation together make it possible for software to be used by people who do not understand the default language used for the User Interface of software. When these two factors are an integral part of software development like they are for MediaWiki, it becomes possible to support Wikipedia in over 270 languages.

The translatewiki rallies give an additional incentive to our localisers to do a little bit more. Many languages, including big ones like Spanish or Hindi can do with more effort. Both languages are used as "fall back" languages when the localisation of a language is not adequate but they need to be complete to do their job.

MediaWiki does gain relevant functionality over time; off line support with Kiwix and mobile telephone support now integral to MediaWiki are recent examples. This support is not restricted to Wikipedia, it is available to Wikimedia and non-Wikimedia projects alike.

You can join in the fun of the rally, you can make the user interface in your language more usable. The info can be found here but all your contributions are welcome for any and all the projects we support at translatewiki.
Thanks,
GerardM

There are few messages to localise for #Kiwix

2011-08-22T14:19:00.001+02:00

Kiwix can be localised at #translatewiki.net. and it started with 14 languages already localised. Two days later, 18 languages are completely localised and for 6 languages the localisation is underway.

With only 79 messages to localise, there is not much effort needed to localise Kiwix. Given that it is the client that does support the openZIM format, it helps support the Wikimedia Foundation in its effort to have a credible off-line strategy.

Check out the status, and help us to create the best off-line experience for your language.
Thanks,
GerardM

#Kiwix is preparing for #translatewiki.net

2011-06-18T20:46:00.002+02:00

At the Berlin hackathon,we talked with the Kiwix developer and he indicated that making Kiwix ready for localisation at translatewiki.net is one of his priorities.

As it one of those jobs that just does not go away, it is at some stage easier to give it a whirl. The good news is that a first iteration has found its way to translatewiki.

It is now a matter of making sure that new messages and localisations can find its way to and from Kiwix before the translatewiki community can work its magic.

More news when we have it :)
Thanks,
GerardM

#Kiwix loves #WebFonts

2011-05-15T12:08:00.000+02:00

When Kiwix targets a website for off line presentation, it takes all the attributes of that website in order to show it as is.

When a website does not use web fonts like Wikipedia at the moment does, the result of the exercise will also be determined by the quality of the support for a script on the local host. This is often patchy.

When Wikipedia installations use WebFonts, it will use the fonts selected as default for a language. Some people will prefer a different font for reasons best known to them.

The use of fonts supplied with Kiwix is being considered at the moment. When they do, they may choose to adopt all the fonts collected to support Wikipedia as they will all be freely licensed.
Thanks,
GerardM

#Okawix makes it a two horse race

2011-04-06T23:31:00.000+02:00

Going from an announcement to committed code makes Okawix the second off line program that supports openZIM. At this moment it is only the Linux client that has its initial code, but Okawix has the benefit of localisations in many languages.

When the software is stable for all the platforms, it will be interesting to see if the Wikimedia Foundation will acknowledge Okawix and give it the same status of that other open source product that supports openZIM, Kiwix.

In the end, the pudding is in the eating and when all the other things are equal, the difference will be in the quality and number of the localisations. Okawix has the advantage that is localised at translatewiki.net while Kiwix is localised using a text editor. Given that for many languages the localisation is not done from English and that there are no utilities that make the life of a localiser easy, Okawix has the best cards.

To be fair, we want a two horse race and handicaps are at the moment evenly divided. The race would be more interesting without handicaps; the Kiwix localisations deserve proper tooling and Okawix deserves support from the WMF.
Thanks,
GerardM

Localisation for #Kiwix

2011-02-09T15:40:00.001+01:00

Now that the #Wikimedia Foundation has decided to concentrate on openZIM for off line readers, Kiwix has gained a lot of prominence because it is still the only software that uses it.

Functionality to make a selection of articles for off line reading is being developed by PediaPress. This will be done by extending the Collections extension.

The good news is that work is now under way to internationalise Kiwix. This will make it possible for Kiwix to be localised at translatewiki.net.

As the presentation of data in the openZIM format is separate from the data, other off line readers like WikiReader or OkaWix have the option to adopt this format as well. When they do, they will profit from the work by the Wikimedia Foundation as well and when they do there will be a healthy competition for the hearts and minds of our off line readers.
Thanks,
GerardM