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# The structure of this Translate Wiki

### Goal of the wiki

To me, the goal of this wiki is to create a central resource for translators. But I expect it was initially created to hold docs related to the Wordforge project. So we need to restructure the wiki to meet both those goals. Since the Wordforge project is firmly committed to Free-Software internationalization, the aims do not conflict, and in fact reinforce each other effectively.

The wiki can manage the docs of the Wordforge project, which include plans, working data and user docs on the Wordforge components Pootle (our world-famous online translation interface, the backbone of an increasing number of FLOSS i18n projects) and the Translate Toolkit (the conversion and processing tools behind Pootle, and used increasingly, if silently in some cases, by other projects), as well as general information on the i18n process, including ground-breaking resources like the plurals page, which form the only real central resource centre for FLOSS localizers.

If we describe both aims on the front page, it will be less confusing for users. This Translate Wiki will become a shared central resource for localizers, with two of the most dynamic resources being Pootle and the Translate Toolkit. Since Pootle is already listed in the Localization Guide, this fits the original structure as well.

### Namespaces

It would be helpful if I really understood what they were. ;)

However, if I provisionally define them as different domains of the wiki, it makes sense to create separate sections, if not namespaces, for the natural divisions of i18n information. For example:

#### Translate Wiki

I think it would be useful to go through the existing pages and restructure their contents hierarchically like this (i.e. split up very large pages like the Localization Guide), answering the main three questions any user has:

1. How do I do X?
2. what can I use to do it?
3. What information do I need?

| Howtos | Tools | Resources
Level 1 | Directory | Directory | Directory
Level 2 | Main howtos | Main tools | Main resources
Level 3 | Sub-howtos | Sub-tools | Sub-resources

These would cross-reference: for example, howtos on Pootle would also refer to tool data (description, roadmap, debugging) and resources (plurals and language codes for PO headers), and docs on Pootle would cross-reference docs on the Toolkit and projects where Pootle is used.

### Classification

This needs to be rigorous. Each document needs to answer the key question in order to qualify for that section. If a document doesn’t primarily tell you “howto” do something, it doesn’t fit in the Howto section. I’ll need to see an index of the wiki’s contents to build any sort of table out of this, but I think it has promise as a solid base for useful information. Any resource needs to be clearly structured, and as simple as possible.

Some of the docs in the Localization Guide fit into Howtos, some in Tools and some in Resources. Each section would also need to allow for localized docs OR each doc could have a translation bar. I’ve created those in other wikis: the usual structure is that when you translate a page, you use its address plus your language code (e.g. wikistructure_vi), and there is a one-row table at the top of the page, like this:

This page in | English | Việt

so you add your language to the translation bar of that page when you have translated it. I find this structure works well. The translated pages, of course, also have the translation bar at the top, providing access to all languages used, including English. (Click on “Việt” above, which takes you to the translation of this page I would do if I had time. ;) Click on the “English” link to return.) Note that each language is shown as it calls itself, so each person recognizes his or her own language.