The Narro project

Works for me

2009-04-07T14:37:00.004+03:00

There's a major release coming up, I can't say just yet if it will be 1.0, but that's where I'm heading at. You can see some progress in the image above.

I'm trying to simplify the user interface and the navigation. I'll introduce tabs where possible and remove options that are rarely used. I'm also working on introducing some basic functionalities that were missing so far, like deleting users and projects.

Better import and export is in the works as well, because it's still not working out of the box for everyone who installs Narro.

Once the existing functionality will be cleaned up, I'll address the most important issues from the issue tracker and bring out a release.

In conclusion, works for me is just not enough and works for everyone means just more work.

Translations of similar texts and other news

2009-03-19T14:45:00.005+02:00

The project list should show only what can be worked on, that is translations in progress. If you want you can select which projects to see.

Looking at some projects that I'm not translating, I always wondered if somebody is actively translating there. Well, now I know, on the project list I can see when was the last activity.

Another thing that I didn't like was that If an original text changed in form of adding or removing a punctuation sign, I had an untranslated text again. So I went back to the days where I had an index to search for similar texts.

Better yet, if yhere's no translation, the translations of similar texts appear automatically. You can copy them and adjust them before translating.

Other things planned in the near future are:

storing and using a word count value for texts and translations
adding project settings, like ignoring some files from templates, adding a custom header for gettext files and so on
split the Manage page into smaller pages

Several people have tried to install Narro on shared hosting environments or Windows machines and failed to do so. A better installation procedure is an ongoing effort on my side and several people have helped so far. The versioning started with 0.9 because I do not see Narro as an application that anyone can easily install yet. If you're not a technical person, you should wait for 1.0.

1 year of open translations

2009-03-14T11:51:00.004+02:00

Time sure flies and I forgot that Narro is one year old officially.

It all started more than a year ago when after years of translating software on voluntary basis I realised the obvious. I was doing a job that anyone could do if they had the necessary tools and the knowledge to use them. So I pursued my dream of creating the tool that needs no tools to translate.

Thinking in such a way leads to a lot of hard to appreciate functionality under the hood. There's no documentation and almost no samples of working procedures. If you're using Narro and like using it, maybe you would consider recording a video of using it. Drop the link in a comment here if you wish.

Where is that link?

2009-02-27T12:46:00.003+02:00

Working with Narro I have come to the conclusion that the Actions columns from the text lists was just eating up valuable space. So I dropped it. Now you have to click the translation cell to translate. This way I also had the chance to explain the colours that I use:

black means approved
blue means not approved and not your translation, but the most voted
green means still not approved but it's your translation

Feel free to give some feedback on this.

I also added Search by author. Sometimes I get a very good translator and I want to approve all of his suggestions. So now I just search for him using the texts list and either use mass approve or just do it old fashion, text by text.

Another hidden feature worth mentioning is that the translation page already has some access keys defined for keyboard fanatics. Here's the list:

Save - s
Save and ignore - i
Approve - v
Next - k
Next 100 - h
Previous 100 - l
Previous - j
Copy original - c

In Firefox you use Alt+Shift+letter above. Feedback is welcomed on this as well, but have in mind that I'm planning to make this keys customizable.

Nobody's perfect: 0.9.4

2009-02-16T13:12:00.002+02:00

The new release contains many improvements on the import and export side as I got a lot of complaints that "it's not working", especially for Windows based installations.

There are also new features, probably the most notable is the mass approve function on the text list.

I'd like to draw some attention to a hidden feature that I've never talked about before. If you put in the project's directory, let's say data/import/1 two files named import.sh and export.sh they will be executed, the first before import (for things like running a wget) and the second after export (for things like creating a language pack, or a compiled .po file). The scripts are called with useful arguments. Here's a script used for creating a Firefox language pack after the export process:

#!/bin/bash
# $1 - language code
# $2 - language id
# $3 - project name
# $4 - project id
# $5 - user id

cd /mozilla_projects/firefox/fx/browser/locales

make -s langpack-$1
export retVal=$?

exit $retVal

Don't forget about returning a value. The output will be shown anyway but with a warning or success message depending on the retVal.

If you're doing a fresh installation, follow the instructions in the INSTALL file.
If you're updating from 0.9.3, run the update files in the root directory. Their names are pretty suggestive.

And here's the link: http://narro.googlecode.com/files/narro-0.9.4.tar.gz.

I'd just like to add a small note of warning. The setup and install process may be a little rough as systems installations differ. But if you need help, don't hesitate to ask for help on the discussion group: http://groups.google.com/group/narro-project/post.

Sharing the story: localization matters

2009-02-12T17:40:00.005+02:00

Ever since I installed a Narro instance on the l10n.mozilla.org server I received requests for supporting languages that you don't usually find next to other languages in localized software versions. They want Firefox in their language. Like Mayan, Oromo, Valencian, Kabyle, Kazakh, Zapotec, Malayalam and others.

They have to register an account and I have to give them administrative permissions on their language. After that, they can start translating in Narro. They can invite their friends to help. Whenever they feel like testing, they export the translation and a language pack is generated ready to be installed. That's a language pack that they can post on addons.mozilla.org for others to enjoy.

So a low entry barrier to the localization matters. If people like the software, sooner or later they want it in their own language. And be sure that there are people that won't use software in English.

So today I feel the essence of localization, which is making a product suitable for use in a particular country or region. I might add "by simply translating it", because usually you need tools and knowledge.

Love your language!

Sort files and projects by progress

2009-02-05T16:41:00.003+02:00

I've just finished writing the piece of code that allows sorting files and projects by progress. This seems such a natural thing to do, but it's so complicated to code.

More on mass aproval

2009-02-05T10:33:00.003+02:00

I've been testing this feature on production for just a day and I can say "yes, it's very useful" already. For now, I use it like this:

I choose to see only texts that require approval
I click Mass approve
I choose which suggestions to approve
I save them all

I have 20 texts per page. I never could approve 20 at once because some of them don't have suggestions, are too long, have access keys or have bad suggestions. But the average is about 10 out of 20, which is good.

I'll be updating https://l10n.mozilla.org/narro instance shortly with this change which I think others will find it useful too.

Approve multiple texts at once

2009-02-04T17:35:00.006+02:00

I've got this request from many Rosetta fans. Mass operations directly in the text list. I've started with the approve operation, which doesn't need any validation. There are some restrictions though:

only texts that have less then 100 characters
only texts that don't have an access key

As you can see in the image, the idea is simple, select a suggestion to approve for each text and click "Approve all selected suggestions". In this mode, the column context is always shown, as it's useful for approval and the actions column is hidden.

I'm thinking also of mass vote and mass add operations. Voting shouldn't be a problem, but adding should, because plugins validate the added suggestion and have to display a message somewhere.

Personally I'm not happy about mass operations as they bring errors with them, but sometimes they may be useful if the right people use them. Like when you're approving a batch of search results for a term, let's say "File". So for this mass operations there's a special permission separate from the normal operations that can be give only to some people.

This feature is on the trunk and subject to change. Any opinions are welcomed.

What's Narro good for?

2009-01-31T17:31:00.000+02:00

Being too busy developing the application, I've never described in the simplest way possible what's Narro good for. Since examples are the best way to learn, here's one:

Old process:

svn checkout file.po (CVS, hg, git or any other similar command)
poedit file.po (Open the file with a program to translate it)
svn commit file.po (commit the translations I've made with let's say poEdit)

Actual process using Narro:

svn checkout file.po (CVS, hg, git or any other similar command)
import the file in Narro
translate the file in Narro
export the file from Narro
svn commit file.po (commit the translations I've made with let's say poEdit)

Although it seems that the actual process got complicated, there are several major improvements:

one text can have more translations than one
people can translate at the same time
the only tool they need is a browser
I can introduce various methods to improve quality, like the ones already implemented: punctuation check, spell check and entity check

As you can see from the example, the checkout and commit operations are still done the old way, right now using some cron jobs. That's because Narro doesn't know right now to import from something else than a directory. In the next version I plan to add the possibility to write various plugins for sources of translations.

Narro has its own translation in gettext

2009-01-21T17:29:00.002+02:00

This entire post is about Narro's interface, not the files it handles for translation.

I've changed the internationalization engine that Narro uses for its translation from home made to gettext, so now there's a pot file to translate.

For those using l10n.mozilla.org, you'll have to approve the texts again, but this time you can export a po file an send it to me so I can include it in newer versions.
When you export the translation, a compiled file is generated as well besides the export po file and the translation in Narro is activated instantly.

Sadly, the engine I use, Zend_Translate, doesn't care about plurals, but since it's an active project I hope future versions will support plurals. And right now there are a few places that would use plurals, about 10, so it's not a big issue.

Narro 0.9.3 is out

2009-01-17T12:20:00.005+02:00

Here goes another release. It wasn't the best time to release as there are many things to add, but the 0.9.2 version was getting too old and the trunk version is used without problems on two working installation, so things were stable enough.

I'll highlight the most important additions in this release:

permissions are grouped in roles now, which makes user management easier
"validate" changed into "approve"
you can export the unapproved suggestions based on several criteria, like the most voted ones, or your suggestions

Download from the project page: http://code.google.com/p/narro/

For the next version, I'd like to create customizable import and export sources that will allow you to get the translation from CVS and post it back to CVS for example. With this step, a general cleaning and improvement on messages on the import/export side will come so people that experienced problems with different php installations should be a little happier with the next version. I myself and a few others will be happy as well to publish their changes directly to versioning systems.

As always, feel free to suggest ideas or report bugs about Narro.

Narro @ Fosdem

2009-01-12T14:53:00.002+02:00

I'm going to Fosdem, so if you're there and interested in having a talk with me, try to find my head in the croud.

For those of you who can't make it, I'd just like to recommend to use the trunk version of Narro until a release is done. There were many changes, but there's no time right now for a release.

I'm planning to work on defining sources for import and export so that you can import and export directly from/to versioning systems. This is one of the most important things after getting Narro working as a translation tool.

Narro @ MozCamp

2008-10-22T21:20:00.002+03:00

If you're attending this year's Mozilla Camp Europe on October 25/26 you can meet me there to talk, praise, criticise or make suggestions to improve Narro.

Lately I've been hearing about people discovering Narro by themselves and installing it successfully, but more than that, actually using it. This is great considering that I haven't made any changes recently. I've been using Narro myself for all the translations that I'm coordinating and some that others wanted to coordinate in Narro.

If I'd get some help from some php developers, that would be great, but the chance to find a php developer that is into translation seems quite low, but I'm still hoping.

See you in Barcelona!

Still here

2008-09-24T11:44:00.004+03:00

Yes, I'm still here although it has been rather quiet. I've been busy translating and meanwhile I discovered that it's a bless to have an application that just works although I haven't worked on it for a month. Yes, I'm talking about Narro.

I've just returned to the code. I've started with several small fixes, like an issue on the login page. The big things that need to be done are still the improvement of the import process as people have been complaining that it doesn't work on new installations and there is no specific error and adding roles, since managing users is rather hard now with all these permissions. Yes, committing and retreiving from versioning systems is another big thing as well. I'd say it's the next big thing.

Upcoming: User roles, dashboard page and notifications

2008-09-04T11:16:00.003+03:00

Thanks to a few people that gave valuable feedback and myself, I have many improvements planned for future versions. Among them are user roles, since the permissions are growing and it's getting hard to manage permissions for each user, a dashboard page that will replace the project list as a start page and improvements in notifications that should allow you to recieve just a digest message via RSS (or possibly email in the future) and see the whole bunch of modifications, no matter how large in Narro, nicely paginated.

For those of you using l10n.mozilla.org installation, note that lately the machine is slower than it used to be, other installations are just fine. I recommend that you find a place where you can keep your own Narro instance if possible.

Regarding integration with versioning systems, it will have to wait a bit, at least one version, because I need the features described above for the projects I'm translating. Remember, I actually translate, that's why I'm writing this application.

Version 0.9.2 is out

2008-08-21T12:15:00.004+03:00

Here goes another Narro version. Several issues were fixed, many things were added. Among the biggest additions there is OpenId login, the possibility to debate a text and the fact that you can change the current translation language on any page.

If you're updating a database from version 0.9.1, use the database update script distributed separately.

I'm getting close to version 1.0.0 which would acomplish my dream of pushing the translations to the versioning systems through a button. I'll be able to focus just on translation, everything will be on the web, in the open, for everyone to see and anyone can help me translate. To achieve this, I'll considerably grow the import/export sections allowing more and more types of sources and destinations.

Among other cool things planned for version 1.0.0 there are glossaries per project and a page where you will see texts and associated suggestions for all projects. On this page you will be able to see where a text is used in all projects, or just in one, and how it is translated. So it's more or less a check for consistency.

Other low priority big additions are showing translations for similar texts and mass operations, like translating in the text list.

Discussions where they belong, in context

2008-08-19T16:02:00.004+03:00

I've seen many translation communities using mailing lists to discuss terms. This leads to an email account pumped with messages that you will or not delete and a web archive somewhere that most of the people I met don't use. So valuable information is often lost.

I'm very happy to have the possibility to discuss texts right in Narro. These discussions are tied to the texts and every time a new project uses a text that was previously discussed, the discussion will be shown on the translation page.

You can follow these discussions with RSS. If you're not using RSS, you better start to. It's better to read something when you want instead of having it delivered in your email when somebody else wants. If you're worried about offline access, don't be. Every major reader caches the articles for offline use. I recommend Google Reader if you're already using Google products. There are other interesting feeds also, so if you're using Narro, check these out. Just click on the feed icon in the location bar.

In other news, Narro supports OpenId authentication and version 0.9.2 is on its way.

Many languages in many tabs

2008-08-07T17:00:00.004+03:00

Some people expressed the need to work with different languages in different tabs. This was not possible, because the language was stored in session and if you tried this, you'd get some weird behavior.

Just back from the Firefox Summit, I spent some time to change this, so now you can select which language you are translating in at anytime and you can work on different languages in different tabs.

The one thing that's still stored in session is the user data, so you can't be logged in with two users at once in the same browser.

Another thing added is that now you can choose Narro's language independent of the language you are translating in.

There are lots of things that will be added, and a 0.9.2 release will be out soon.

The basics: users and texts

2008-07-21T22:05:00.007+03:00

I'm beginning a series of posts that will explain how Narro works. Let's look at the Narro users.

Any registered user can translate. You could even let anonymous users translate, but it's better to get people committed. Their suggestion needs to be reviewed by someone with experience. So some people can validate translations. Right now, the anyone user is missing from existing translation processes. Usually there is one person translating and validating at the same time. So Narro lets anyone translate and someone with experience spends considerably less time just correcting or validating. This process ensures that any translation was reviewed at least once.

Narro stores a text that needs to be translated only once. One text can have many translation suggestions, not just one as usual so far. There's always room for improvement and some texts may be translated in various ways depending on the circumstances. One text may be used by many projects. So the same text present in many projects will have the same translation suggestions available to choose from.

Think of Narro's inside architecture like a language dictionary that's constantly growing. Or a translation memory if you prefer. It has the original text and several possible translations. You choose which translation to use in a particular context.

And we're off. Narro version 0.9.1

2008-07-14T21:20:00.005+03:00

It's about time. To launch a version that everybody can easily use. This is no beta. This is Narro 0.9.1. I gave up on beta 2 because I really don't have a QA team to justify beta releases. So I'd rather release often.

Finally, Narro supports a different number of plural forms than the source language (usually english). Better yet, on import, based on the language's known plural forms, the correct number of plural forms are created even if they don't exist in the translations to import. This gives you extra quality. The PO header is filled with the last revision date set as the export date from Narro, the translator's name and email address from Narro, the correct plural form declaration, the language name and the project id if it's not defined. So you'll get a beautiful PO on export.

There are numerous other things that were added and fixed. Feel free to browse the checkin log.

I was thinking of adding some screencasts, but I'd have to upload some large videos because I'd need at least 800x600 so that you could notice something. So please visit https://l10n.mozilla.org/narro to see Narro in action.

To install Narro, download it, unpack it in your webroot directory and follow the instructions from the INSTALL file. If you succeed, please come back and post thoughts of joy. For frustrations and other issues, please use the narro-project google group.

Thanks to NGUYEN Manh Hung, Ehsan Akhgari, Huda Sarfraz, Adi Roiban and Jani Monoses for their help.

Beta 2 is getting closer

2008-07-09T12:57:00.003+03:00

Things are stable so far. Beta 1 went out with some installation problems and import/export problems. All those that were reported were fixed.

I've spent most of my time adding minor things here and there, correcting bugs, so I'll release a Beta 2 at the end of this week. If it won't have serious bugs, version 1.0.0 stable will be next. Otherwise, Beta 3.

I know I really have to write a manual of some sort but I'm really busy coding, and people have understood so far the application without needing a manual.

On the left, you can see what projects are in the Narro installation used for Romanian language so far. You can see native OpenOffice format, Gettext, Dumbgettext (the one used by some mozilla sites, it's not a correct gettext, but hey, Narro deals with it), you can see even SVG and phpMyAdmin format there.

So you get the idea. Narro is meant to translate almost anything that is related to user interface.

First Beta 1 results

2008-07-05T14:42:00.005+03:00

Beta 1 got some brave users who tried to install Narro on their own machines. Luckily they gave feedback too, so a first set of problems are set to be fixed in Beta 2.

The most obvious was the lack of support for system calls through php, so in Beta 2, the exec function will be replaced everywhere with php code.

If the proc_open function is disabled as well, instead of having the project import in the background with a nice progress bar, you'll have to wait for a page to finish loading, as usual on the web. Or import through the command line.

Some other bugs were fixed, I'm really really trying not to add more features to speed up a 1.0 stable release.

I had a few minutes to try my drawing skills and I have now a Narro logo, slogan and a cute favicon.

So, people hold on. For Beta 2.

Beta 1 seen in the wild

2008-07-01T11:40:00.002+03:00

The day has come. You can take Narro for a spin on your own server. Download the archive and follow instructions from the INSTALL file inside it. Visit the Known Issues about Narro page. Report any other issues. Cross your fingers.

Remember that this is a beta version. Proceed with caution and have patience. Ask in the Narro google group for support because there's no help written yet as the application is growing. Expect some screencasts this week.

If you're a PHP developer and want to help, please say so in the group.

If you want to maintain your Mozilla translations on l10n.mozilla.org please contact me so I can give you necessary rights to do that. I'll have another post on this topic tomorrow.

Looking forward to the alpha release

2008-06-23T12:36:00.003+03:00

I had a presentation on Narro on Friday and I received a first offer of help last week from Lourenzo Ferreira. This should make me more committed to update SVN more frequently and keep the progress visible there by keeping a ToDo page in the wiki updated. I'm planning a alpha release no matter what on July 1st. I'll post an article here and a tarball with some instructions on Narro's google code page.

I really hope this brings more help on the development part, since Narro needs more than my spare time because it's constantly growing.