Is gettext appropriate for internationalizing user help documentation?

Posted by Richard JP Le Guen on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Richard JP Le Guen
Published on 2012-06-11T15:07:06Z Indexed on 2012/06/11 16:47 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 316

Filed under:

documentation

|

i18n

|

gettext

On my project, we have po files to internationalize/translate various labels, error messages, button-text etc. We also have separate po files for the entirety of our help documentation, which is included in the product.

Is this an appropriate use of gettext - putting entire documents in po files as opposed to just labels and messages?

The format has been made all the more complicated because sometimes (for tooltips or "what's this" icons) only a small part of the help doc is needed, resulting in single phrases/paragraphs being entries in the po file, which are then concatenated together when the user views the help... making the actual act of translation challenging.

Is there a better way to internationalize end user help documentation?

© Programmers or respective owner

Related posts about documentation

Hyperlinked, externalized source code documentation

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
Why do we still embed natural language descriptions of source code (i.e., the reason why a line of code was written) within the source code, rather than as a separate document? Given the expansive real-estate afforded to modern development environments (high-resolution monitors, dual-monitors, etc… >>> More
A tool to aid completion of missing or incomplete source code documentation

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have several finished, older PHP projects with a lot of includes that I would like to document in javadoc/phpDocumentor style. While working through each file manually and being forced to do a code review alongside the documenting would be the best thing, I am, simply out of time constraints,… >>> More
Quick C# Project Documentation in Visual Studio

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
Here's a quick way to document your .NET projects. >>> More
SQLAuthority News – Feature Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP4

as seen on SQL Authority - Search for 'SQL Authority'
If you are still using SQL Server 2005 – I suggest that you consider migrating to later version of the SQL Server 2008/2008 R2. Due to any reason, you wanted to continue using SQL Server 2005, I suggest that you take a look at the Feature Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP4. There are many… >>> More
SQLAuthority News – Statistics Used by the Query Optimizer in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 – Microsoft Whitepaper

as seen on SQL Authority - Search for 'SQL Authority'
I recently presented session on Statistics and Best Practices in Virtual Tech Days on Nov 22, 2010. The sessions was very popular and I got many questions right after the sessions. The number question I had received was where everybody can get the further information. I am very much happy that my… >>> More

Related posts about i18n

i18n with webpy

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hello, i Have a problem with i18n, using webpy. I have followed this : http://webpy.org/cookbook/i18n_support_in_template_file So, in my .wsgi there is : #i18n gettext.install('messages',I18N_PATH,unicode=True) gettext.translation('messages',I18N_PATH,languages=['fr_FR','en_US']).install(True) So… >>> More
'sudo apt-get update' error

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I've been having an issue with 'sudo apt-get update' for several days now. I've tried every proposed solution I could find but to no avail. Here is the output to 'apt-get update'. Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise InRelease Ign http://us.archive.ubuntu.com precise-updates… >>> More
Symfony - admin - FormFilter - is empty - i18n

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi, we are in admin generator in filters in field. What is the most clearest way to translate is empty label under form fields? I've solve it by own setWidgets and setWidgets in BaseFormFilterDoctrine witch extend the parent methods by translating that is empty( empty_label ). setWidgets - translate… >>> More
php framework with sqlite, orm, i18n, l10n search addon

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
im trying to find a php framework to build small,multilingual sites. do you know a php framework with support for: 1.sqlite (it will be little sites so no performance problem and good for copy-paste from development to production) 2.orm 3.i18n & l10n 4.easy search addon 5.ability to just… >>> More
I18N: Does Time always come after Date?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Does the time always come after the date, with a space in between, in every culture on earth? i see that Microsoft FCL assumes that it does: public string get_FullDateTimePattern() { if (this.fullDateTimePattern == null) { this.fullDateTimePattern = this.LongDatePattern + " " + this… >>> More