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Сreate a User Guide on how to properly internationalize and localize users' gadgets, scripts and modules
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Description

I was confronted with the problem that there is absolutely no description of how to internationalize gadgets and scripts for RTL languages on MediaWiki.org. What classes and variables should be used to determine the direction.
For example, what problems I faced when internationalizing Convenient-Discussions gadget:

  1. It was not immediately clear when to refer to the project language, and when to the interface language: for example, the translation of control buttons should always be based on the interface language, and the location in the project language.
  2. It was not clear which class I should use to indicate the direction: .ltr, .sitedir-ltr, .mw-content-ltr, or I should have used the "direction" attribute at all.
  3. How OOUI block layout works in RTL; when they change direction and when they don't. How to make them work correctly in RTL when you're not only using OOUI forms.
  4. The most correct and convenient localization scheme has not been described: T238386
  5. It's not clear where is the best place to publish your gadget: MediaWiki, Commons, Meta?
  6. No recommendation for quality of strings: (taken from translatewiki.net )Should avoid spelling mistakes, bad grammar; No lego messages (constructing messages with string concatenation); Consistency with punctuation, letter casing and terminology; Minimal mark-up inside the strings.
  7. There are no recommendations for creating documentation for the gadget
  8. There is no information in which cases it is necessary to replace icons for RTL languages, and in which not
  9. Should I use Gerrit or Github to develop a gadget? Should I create Phabricator project for it?

I think this is the minimum list of what should be.

Event Timeline

Iniquity renamed this task from Сreate a User Guide on how to properly internalize and localize usergadgets, to Сreate a User Guide on how to properly internalize and localize users' gadgets, scripts and modules.Jun 28 2020, 10:06 PM
Iniquity updated the task description. (Show Details)
Aklapper changed the task status from Open to Stalled.Jun 29 2020, 10:56 AM
Aklapper removed a project: Design.

Hi @Iniquity, thanks for taking the time to report this! Unfortunately this Wikimedia Phabricator task lacks some information.
If you have time and can still reproduce the situation: Please add a more complete description to this task and provide links to where you'd expect such documentation to exist. Also, did you mean "internationalize" maybe?

Judging from i18n label I guess it is indeed internationalise. I would also want such a documentation. I expect it to appear on MWW somewhere.

Iniquity renamed this task from Сreate a User Guide on how to properly internalize and localize users' gadgets, scripts and modules to Сreate a User Guide on how to properly internationalize and localize users' gadgets, scripts and modules.Jul 17 2020, 2:16 AM
Iniquity updated the task description. (Show Details)

Hi @Iniquity, thanks for taking the time to report this! Unfortunately this Wikimedia Phabricator task lacks some information.
If you have time and can still reproduce the situation: Please add a more complete description to this task and provide links to where you'd expect such documentation to exist. Also, did you mean "internationalize" maybe?

Thanks for the clarification :) I expanded the task.

Iniquity changed the task status from Stalled to Open.Jul 17 2020, 2:18 AM
Iniquity updated the task description. (Show Details)

@Iniquity: This is basically the same as T238341: Structured localization framework for Templates, Lua modules, and Gadgets, but describing the status quo instead?

Yes, it describes the status quo, but that task is still more about the technical component, and not about the documentation for the user.

If created this should probably be linked from https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Gadget_kitchen

Yes, this is good idea :)