Version 0.9.2 is out

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.