Add-on Translation Guide

From Pray Times

Revision as of 02:54, 17 March 2009

This is a quick guide on how to translate Pray Times! Firefox add-on into your language.

Set Up the Environment

Copy files

Download Pray Times! 1.2 zip file and extract it into a directory on your local drive. We refer to this directory as [addon-dir].

Make a new Firefox profile

• Open [addon-dir]/dev folder and double-click on my-firefox.bat to run it (assuming that you are using Windows).
• The Firefox profile dialog appears. Click on 'Create Profile..' to create a profile with name 'praytimes' in a custom folder that you choose. We refer to this folder as [profile-dir].
• Press Finish on the dialog box and then press 'Exit'.

You can now double-click on my-firefox.bat to open Firefox under the newly created profile.

Install Pray Times!

• Copy a file named azan-times@hamid.net from [addon-dir]/dev to [profile-dir]/extensions.
• Open the file using Notepad and change its first line to [addon-dir].
• Close your Firefox and reopen it using my-firefox.bat.

Choose locale

If you are using a localized version of Firefox, then skip this step. Otherwise, do the followings:

• Install Quick Locale Switcher add-on onto your browser.
• From the add-on options menu, change the browser's default language to your own language.

Start Translation

The translation process is pretty easy. You only need to translate expressions inside two text files.

Prepare files

• Open [addon-dir]/chrome/locale.
• Make a copy of the folder 'en-US' and rename it to your language id, say fr. (You may find your language id in this list.)
• Open chrome.manifest file in the [addon-dir] folder and add a line like this into the file:
  locale praytimes en-US chrome/locale/en-US/
  where en-US must be replaced by your language id.

Translate

• Open [addon-dir]/chrome/locale/[your-language-id].
• Open the two files praytimes.dtd and common.properties using a text editor like Notepad. (Note: your editor should be able to store files in UTF-8 format.)
• Start translating expressions in the above two files.

Translation hints

• Always choose the shortest possible translation, in particular for expressions in the main display panel, its tooltip, and the menu bar.
• For general words like OK, Cancel, Options, etc. please use translations used in the localized versions of Firefox.
• For technical words like Time Zone, Daylight Saving, etc. you can extensively use Wikipedia in your language.
• Taking a look at other Prayer Times websites and application in your language would be also helpful.

View changes

The changes you make to the dialogue windows (including Options, About, and Comments dialogues) can be viewed immediately. Changes to the main menu and the display panel in the status bar needs a browser restart (you can use Extension Developer add-on to reload all chromes without restart).

Submit Your Translation

After your translation is complete, please send the two files praytimes.dtd and common.properties to the developer, along with your complete name and your url to be included in the credits page. Thank you!