The translation software we formerly used, oTranCe, would not have updates any longer, and with ongoing PHP updates, we ran into more and more “challenges”. That is why we considered evaluating other software in order to apply this need.
Evaluation
- Is it necessary to host this platform yourself?
- Can this software apply OXID’s “specialities” without a programming need?
- Can we import translations made before in OXID 4/5?
- Can this new software automatically detect new strings and message translators about them?
- Could there be kind of an integration into GitHub for version management?
- etc.
Finally we landed up at Crowdin which seems to be a perfect solution for our above named requirements: I could connect a GitHub repository with latest OXID version to it, sort out what language files we want to have translated, output files in the same structure like connected to GitHub and import already translated language keys without any problems or even requests which format it would use. Even more than expected, Crowdin perfectly handles duplicates (automatically translated) and offers a vast range of machine translation interfaces as well as a translation memory. The usage is self-explanatory and translations are handled in a progressive web app, hence we should be able to even use the smartphone any time you have some free minutes for this.
What we want to have translated
Here is an overview of what are the internal differences between the old and the new translation platform in a manner of OXID eShop version used and files to be translated:
| Translation Platform | oTranCe | Crowdin |
|---|---|---|
| Latest OXID eShop version supported | CE and PE v4.10.8 & EE 5.3.8 | v6.2.2 all editions |
| files: | ||
| application/translations/{locale}/lang.php | ||
| views/admin/{locale}/lang.php | ||
| views/admin/{locale}/help_lang.php | ||
| views/azure/{locale}/lang.php | ||
| views/azure/{locale}/theme_options.php | ||
| views/flow/{locale}/lang.php | ||
| views/flow/{locale}/theme_options.php | ||
| views/wave/{locale}/lang.php | ||
| views/wave/{locale}/theme_options.php | ||
| setup/{locale}/lang.php | ||
| modules/oe/gdproptin/Application/translations/{locale}/oegdproptin_en_lang.php | ||
| modules/oe/gdproptin/Application/views/admin/{locale}/oegdproptin_admin_en_lang.php |
What was lost
As you can imagine, because of these changes (OXID eShop versions and language file components), we experience a slight loss (~ 3%) in some translated keys. Also, new keys were added in the latest few versions which have not been translated yet on the old translation platform, hence the percentage might be at a different level than before.
To my greatest regret, due to the platform change, we also could not save the assignment of the previous translators to the language keys – hope you can forgive that.
Outlook
Presently, the translation platform is in a state again that everybody who feels fancy can join OXID eShop translations and help localizing OXID eShop into his/her native tongue. Actually, this is an important part when it comes to internationalization.
In the near future we will provide easy downloads of finished or “OK” translations directly from OXIDforge. Depending on the participation, we will also evaluate possible in-line translations in OXID eShop and other helpful tools that might be suitable to help getting quickly ahead with translations.
Any help appreciated.