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Translating the help files.
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===========================
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I have tried to write the help files in plain english with good grammer.
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Since English is not my strong point you probably can't tell, but I hope it helps.
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Since English is not my strong point you probably can't tell, but I hope it
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The help files, at this point, are devided into functional areas.
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Each .hlp file represents a different functional block of how the program looks to the user.
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Each .hlp file represents a different functional block of how the program looks
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I put each sentance on a line of its own because I thought it might make
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it easier to translate. Hopefully as SquirrelMail is more widely used,
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non-english translations will be used to make other non-english translations.
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You might want to keep this in mind when writing yours. Remember that these wil be used
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All over the world and in many different environments so local language dialects might
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All translated files should be placed under the hlp directory.
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Under the hlp directory create another directory. This directory MUST be named
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to the two letter standard abbreviation for the language. English is "en" and
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Spanish would be "sp" for example.
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The help files are written in the following format:
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<A NAME=some_name></A>
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Some text on some subject.
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<A NAME=some_name></A>
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Some text on some subject.
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This is important because the left menu is dynamically built from what is inside the .hlp files.
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All <A NAME></A>, <H1></H1>, and <H3></H3> tags MUST be on a line by themselves.
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No modifiers may be used for the <A> anchor tags. Modifiers other than the NAME modifier
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Will result in the additional modifier's inclusion in the left menu.
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Any other tags used such as <H4> will be ignored. I am currently working on making all the
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headers which are already listed in the po file translate automatically. We'll see how this goes.
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This will not work for files like FAQ.hlp and Basic.hlp which are not in the main program.
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At the current time no logic is in place to check if help is written on a certain subject.
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You might want to keep this in mind when writing yours. Remember that these will
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be used all over the world and in many different environments so local language
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dialects might confuse someone else.
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All translated files should be placed under the help directory. Under the help
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directory create another directory. This directory MUST be named to the two letter
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standard abbreviation for the language. English is "en" and Polish would be "pl"
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The help files are written in a basic xml format. Don't worry, XML isn't hard
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at all. All it does is contain values inside tags like <start> and </start>.
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For these help files, the tags must be on their own line like this:
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There are two types of main tags: <chapter> and <section>. There can be only
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one <chapter> tag in a .hlp file. However, there can be many <section> tags.
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Inside both of these tags, their can be any combination of any of the following
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tags: <title>, <description>, <summary>. Here is an example:
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The title can only | <title>
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be one line long | My first chapter
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Summary may be many | <summary>
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lines, but is short | Just a brief summary
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Description can be | This is a more detailed description that
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very long. It is | can span many lines. Usually this is the
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the main part of | bulk of the help section or chapter description.
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the help section. | </description>
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To translate, just copy all the .hlp files from help/en into your new directory
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that you created for this language (i.e. help/pl). You only need to translate
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what is inbetween the tags. Do not translate the actual tags such as <chapter>
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or <summary>. The tag names need to remain in English. You should only translate
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the test between tags.
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Often there may be other HTML tags such as <b> for bold or <a href...> to make
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a link. If you see any of these tags, just leave them and don't translate
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them either. Only what is contained inside them if needed.
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doc/translating_help.txt
