[xliff-tools] Comments about XLIFF and the Mapping Guide

[Asgeir Frimannsson]

Hi Bruno,

On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 00:58, Bruno Haible wrote:
> About the XLIFF tools, in particular editors for translators: The PO file
> editors are simple and easy to use because the format is simple. The
> acceptance of XLIFF based tools in the open-source world will depend on
> their ease of use (because in the open-source world there are few
> professional translators who would buy and use a non-ergonomic tool). In
> particular, this means that such editors must have a customizable GUI:
> Given the wealth of elements and attributes available in the XLIFF schema,
> a GUI can always only display a small fraction of the elements. A GUI that,
> say, spends 50% of the screen estate on the <skl> skeleton, the <group>
> structure, the <context context-type="record-title"> elements, the
> <trans-unit>'s resnames and <bin-unit>s, will be unusable for editing PO
> files, because these elements never occur in XLIFF files converted from PO
> files. For Java Resources, on the other hand, the <trans-unit>'s renames
> display is mandatory.
>
> I don't expect XLIFF based open-source translation editors in the next 3
> years: It took ca. 2 years until KBabel was built, which is so far the only
> good open-source translation editor. (gtranslator 0.43 doesn't even support
> plural forms, and Emacs PO mode is just not my taste.) An editor which not
> only has to accomodate a hundred of different elements and attributes, but
> also a configurable GUI around it, is not going to be seen in the
> open-source world soon.

One of the 'features' of XLIFF is that it is a very open format, and doesn't 
enforce very much in regards to localisation workflows, and it's possible to 
make valid XLIFF files with very few elements and attributes. And tools does 
not have to implement all XLIFF features to be useable. E.g. Look at 
Heartsome or SUN Translation editor, the editors are limited to textual data, 
and only support the core features of XLIFF. I guess my point is: Useful 
XLIFF Tools can be built incrementally, and I hope it won't take 3 years to 
get something useful built :)

> Nevertheless, I believe the PO - XLIFF converters are essential.
>
> OK, now some comments on specific topics of the Mapping Guide.

Bring it on :) Really appreciate your input!

cheers,
asgeir