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# Translating HTML

HTML is used to design web pages but it often occurs in GUI translations. You will also see XML - which looks very much like HTML. This guides explains which parts of HTML you can safly translate and which you should leave unchanged.

## What not to translate

Do not translate the actual markers. HTML consists of tags which indicate the start and end of a section of text. This text could be a heading, a paragraph, a hyperlink or just a piece of text to display in bold:

- <h1>A heading</h1>
- <p>A paragraph</p>
- <a href=bob.html>A hyperlink</a>
- This is normal and <b>this is bold</b>

Some markers just beg to be translated. Such as these: <title>, <center>, <body> Do not be tempted these need to remain in English.

## Attributes - which to translate?

An attribute is a variable associated with a tag. Eg. <body bgcolor=blue>, here bgcolor is an attribute and blue is its value. Attributes, like tags, are never translated. However some values can be translated. In the example above the value blue should not be translated.

There are only a few values that can be translated:

alt | found in the img (image) tag and used to give a textual description of the picture that will be loaded. This is essential for people with disabilities
title | a text title that pops up when you hover over a URL, exactly like a tooltip

are there others?

## Should I change hyperlinks and images?

Although as a translator you should only change the text of the program, you do have complete control over the HTML. This can be used to your advantage if needed. If for example you were translating a manual that referred to an image of the application then you would most likely want to have an image in the users language, rather then explaining to them in their language using an English picture.

Often however because of the work involved the translation teams will not change images until much later in their efforts.

To change the image first you will need to create an image. You can use ksnapshot or Gimp to create screenshots. Remember to keep the look consistent i.e. try to use the same theme across all images. Ideally your picture should be the same size as the one it is replacing.

Lastly depending on the application you will need to place the file in the correct place so that it will be shown with your translations. What usually happens is that images are first sought in the language specific directory and if they are not found then they use the English version.

## Tags that should be translated

Some things that looks like tags are not really tags and should be translated. These would include the following: <Error>, <File not found>, etc

How to identify them? If you are an experienced HTML editor you will know which are real immediately. If you are not then use this rule. If its all in lowercase or uppercase then it in more likely that it is a valid Tag. if it combines case most likely it is not. If it contains any attribute such as <font color=blue> it is definitely a tag. And lastly if its the only text in the message eg “<None>” then it is most probably not a tag.