Re: Words!

[F Wolff <friedel translate org za>]

Op Sa, 2011-08-20 om 01:52 +0200 skryf Gil Forcada:
> Hi,
> 
> Today I fixed (thanks to Claude to review it that quick!) the word
> counting bug [1].

Hi Gil. Well done on the work!


> The rationale is basically that a string is quite meaningless since PO
> files will show 1 string if they either have this msgid:

...

> The difference is quite obvious, isn't it?

Absolutely. In our tools we have usually prioritised word statistics
over string statistics. My opinion is that words are the better
indication of work required/completed. However, I think that string
statistics have a place in terms of giving a more complete picture of
coverage/completeness.

So in a sense, I would say that word counts are most relevant for
translators and reviewers, whereas string statistics are (depending on
their questions) _maybe_ more informative for an overview of a
module/language/release set.


> So right now, we are able to know how many words a POT file or a PO
> translation file has as translated, fuzzy and untranslated.
> 
> But don't go to l10n.gnome.org searching for them, that's what this
> email is about.
> 
> Before starting cluttering the l10n.gnome.org interface with words
> counting I prefer to ask here where everyone wants to see them and try
> to figure out something that can be as useful as possible for everyone.

Well done on resisting the temptation to just put the numbers
everywhere :-) It isn't all that easy, so I'll add a few comments as I
compare your possible solutions.


> Some solutions can be:
> - simply remove all string references and replace them by words

This way we loose the ability to measure completeness based on strings.


> - keep the interface exactly as is but when overing strings statistics
> numbers show the words countings

It is "safe", but might mean that some people won't see it.


> - allow users to configure if he/she wants to see words or strings
> throughout the UI

Arguably less safe, and maybe even less people might see this feature.


> - show only words everywhere and keep strings on file pages (i.e. [2])

Actually, I would rather do the opposite. Since this is a bit more of a
"work page", I think the word counts make most sense here. It is already
used to handle team resources, so reporting on the language resources in
more detail here sounds right to me.

Again, well done on your work!

Friedel

--
Recently on my blog:
http://translate.org.za/blogs/friedel/en/content/virtaal-070-released