StreetFix Poll

Hi

I’m in the process of adding multi language support to my multi national street problem viewing and reporting application for RISC OS called StreetFix

I’m not sure if to have the different languages in English or the native language for that language e.g for Swedish to I go with Swedish or Svenska?

Well I have a Poll running to see what people prefer.

Thanks.

Poll doesn’t work in NetSurf. ;)

The correct thing to do is to put the language in the language. That shows that you’re serious about correctly representing it, so, yes: Deutsch, English, Español, Français, Svenska, and so on.

+1

+2 (English & हिंदी )

You know, the average RISC OS machine would struggle with Ελληνικά, never mind something fancy like हिंदी. ;)

[where’s memo when you need him?]

The Journal of Physiology printed a whole page of comments in हिंदी (Hindi), with English translations, in the mid 1990s – produced in Impression on a RISCOS machine…

produced in Impression on a RISCOS machine…

And I’ve had my build of Ovation working with Japanese. However…

I didn’t say it was impossible, but if you’re going to be internationalising a program, that means it’ll be the Wimp drawing the text (window titles, menus, etc), not you.
How do you propose to have anything other than Western European languages given the general lack of interest in transitioning to UTF-8?

True, true.

I’m very interested in transitioning to UTF-8, but it’s not in my skill-set to implement it, and at my age any extensions to my skill-set are going to be a bit limited. I say “I’m interested”, but it’s purely an academic interest – I don’t personally have any use for it on RISCOS.

As StreetFix only has UK, Norway and Sweden the language choice will be those plus Welsh and perhaps Galic.

Other countries can be added if they are powered by FixMyStreet, then I can add those languages.

UK, Norway and Sweden the language choice will be those

So, English, Norsk ¹, and Svenska.

plus Welsh and perhaps Galic.

You mean Cymraeg and either Gaeilge or Gàidhlig. You can’t just say Gaelic as there are two and they’re not the same.

If the accents all lean to the right líké thésé then it’s Irish Gaeilge; and if they lean to the left lìkè thèsè then it’s Scottish Gàidhlig.

No love for Kernewek? Pfft.

Looks like at the moment there’s only Welsh as an additional option. I don’t see a Scottish Gaelic option. The Irish incarnation is an “Honourable mention” which now redirects you to the websites of local councils in Dublin or County Kerry.

And the French one? Dead and buried in a shallow grave in the woods. Maybe the roads on other parts of France are deplorable? They aren’t too bad around here (but then they aren’t too good either, what with all the tractors and such). At least, no notable potholes (other than my access lane) on the way to work.

¹ Of course, would that be Bokmål (the Danish merger) or Nyorsk (the non-Danish one)? Chances are it’ll be Bokmål so maybe best to just say “Norsk”.

I’m very interested in transitioning to UTF-8, but it’s not in my skill-set to implement it

Ditto. And it’s going to either need some degree of fudging in the FontManager to attempt to revert to Latin1 if the UTF-8 sequence is invalid ¹ or a massive rewrite to the Wimp to support 8-bit and UTF applications separately.
And, of course, there’s all the fall-out. What happens if one sends a Wimp message saying “Hëllö” from a UTF app to Latin1 one?

These aren’t insurmountable problems, but ones that will require attention and code, and given as most people around here speak English it’s not exactly something that anybody worries much about.

¹ Yes, I know it’s non-standard UTF parsing. It’s called a compromise as, no, not all apps are going to be UTFified, and nothing is going to happen overnight, so workarounds will need to be found.

What happens if one sends a Wimp message saying “Hëllö” from a UTF app to Latin1 one?

‘Easy’. Just replicate the whole OS API with W (or similar) suffix, a la Windows ;-) e.g. SendMessage(W) will have to translate message payload to current alphabet for Poll(A) for ALL well-known messages.

You can’t just say Gaelic as there are two and they’re not the same.

More than that, the Isle of Man lays claim to a version, not sure where Cornwall and the Breton languages fall either.

Edit A little tree of Celtic stuff

given as most people around here speak English

Most professional IT specialists in India have a better grasp of technical English than of the way the script of their own language works – and boy, does it show in the way Hindi is implemented in Unicode…

Most professional IT specialists in India have a better grasp of technical English

There are people in the office who claim that certain people among us have English as a second language and tech as a first.
The Indian and Hungarian born certainly produce better spelling.

Once the first multi langauge version has been released, I will add other languages over time.

Other countries can be addded only if they use the FixMyStreet platform and adding them is easy as only 2 files need to be changed, and they are message files.

I have found 2 other places that use the FixMyStreet platform, they are New Zealand but have stoped and Zuric, so I may add Zuric once I have tested some post codes.

Many UK authorities use the FixMyStreet platform, but their data will be in the UK one anyway so no need to add them.

Just over 5 days left with voting.