Publii Language File Checker
Bob MitroThe release of Publii version 0.39 included many features, not least of which was app interface translations. Thanks to the amazing efforts of our great community, the Publii interface has already been translated into many other languages, all of which can be downloaded from the Publii GitHub repository.
The next Publii release, version 0.41, is now here, and with it we're adding a simple tool for translators that will help make the translation maintenance process faster and easier; the Language File Checker.
Publii language file checker
The Publii Language File Checker allows translators to directly compare their own Publii language files with the base English language file included with each version of the app.
Using this tool is simple as can be; just select your own translated language file, and the Publii version you wish to compare it to, and you'll be able to quickly find out two important bits of info:
- Which translation keys are missing
- Which translation keys are no longer necessary
This means that if you've created a translation file for Publii v.0.40, you can now compare it with the language file for Publii v.0.41 to find out if any new phrases have been added, or if any phrases have been removed between Publii v.0.40 and v.0.41; no need to meticulously examine each file line by line.
This tool may also be used to check your existing language files for issues or errors; we recommend comparing your existing translations with their respective base English version to confirm that they are complete and don't have any redundant translation keys.
List of modified phrases
Each version of Publii can include many small changes the UI text and phrases. To help make updating these changes easier for translators, we have prepared a list of modified phrases; that is, existing phrases such as option names or descriptions that are updated to better explain the functionality of the option or reflect a change to the option's behavior.
Check out the list of modified phrases →
So, for best results, when updating your translated language file for a new Publii release, you should first use the Publii Language File Checker to compare your file with the base language file from the new release to catch any new or deleted phrases. Next, you should check the list of modified phrases to find any changes to existing phrases so they can be updated in your translated file too.
These lists are intentionally based only on more important changes, so they don't contain changes connected with typos or small text changes which don't change the overall context of the phrase, and so wouldn't have any effect on the equivalent translated phrase.
What does this mean in practice? As a simple example, if a phrase included a typo such as a misspelling of the word 'occurred', that is then corrected in the new release of Publii, this change won't be included in the modified phrases list. However, if instances of the 'GDPR' text has been changed to 'Privacy Policy' instead, then this fundamentally changes the meaning of the sentence, and such changes will be included in the modified phrases list.
We do hope that these new tools will make the translation process of Publii UI much easier and faster for our translators, and we're so grateful for all your efforts in helping to make Publii more accessible for users across the world. In the next months, we will be introducing more and more tools to assist translators with their work, with the intention of making the process of preparing and maintaining language files as simple and smooth as possible. We would also like to avoid any reliance on third-party tools so that our translators don't have to move out of the Publii ecosystem, instead needing to use only internal tools.
Our deepest thanks once again to our translators for all your incredible efforts, and we'll be sure to let you know once more translation tools are released.