• Pages to be translated must be PHP, and must include

  require_once(\"../inc/translation.inc\");
  

• Literal text is replaced with tr(TOKEN), where TOKEN is a short string representing the text. For example,

  page_head(\"Current version\");
  

  is replaced with

  page_head(tr(APPS_VERSION));
  

• The directory html/user/translations contains a number of 'translation files'. These have names like 'da.po' (Danish) and 'en.po' (English). Translation files are in PO format, which is described here. It's very simple: for example:

  en.po (English)
  msgid \"APPS_VERSION\" msgstr \"Current version\" msgid \"APPS_DESCRIPTION\" msgstr \"\$PROJECT currently has the following applications. \" \"When you participate in \$PROJECT, work for one or more \" \"of these applications will be assigned to your computer. \" \"The current version of the application will be downloaded \" \"to your computer. This happens automatically; you don't have to do anything. \"
  da.po (Danish)
  msgid \"APPS_VERSION\" msgstr \"Nuværende version\" msgid \"APPS_DESCRIPTION\" msgstr \"\$PROJECT har i øjeblikket følgende applikationer. \" \"Når du deltager i \$PROJECT vil arbejde fra en eller flere \" \"af disse applikationer blive tildelt din computer. \" \"Den nuværende version af applikationen vil blive downloadet \" \"til din computer. Dette sker automatisk - du behøver ikke at gøre noget.\"

  Each translation has a token CHARSET whose value should be the character set (e.g. iso-8859-1) used in the translation.
• When a person accesses the page, the browser passes a list of languages. The BOINC PHP code finds the first of these languages for which a translation is available, or English if none. As the page is generated, each call to tr() replaces the token with the corresponding translated text.

In developing web pages, keep in mind that word order differs between languages, so you should avoid breaking a sentence up into multiple translation units. For example, use constructs like

msgid \"ACTIVATE_OR_CREATE\"
msgstr \"Already have an original 'Classic' account as of May 14, 2004? \"
    \"<br>We've transferred it, just %sactivate it%s. \"
    \"%sOtherwise %screate a new account%s.\"

printf(tr(ACTIVATE_OR_CREATE),
    \"<a href=sah_email_form.php>\", \"</a>\",
    \"<p><img border=0 src=images/arrow_right.gif width=9 height=7>\",
    \"<a href=create_account_form.php>\", \"</a>\"
);

Project-specific translations

The web site of a BOINC-based project involves both

• BOINC pages, such as the forms for creating accounts. These are part of the BOINC source code distribution, and are updated periodically by BOINC.
• Project-specific pages (and BOINC pages that are modified by the project).

To allow translations of both types of pages, a project can haves its own 'project-specific translation files'. These are stored in a directory html/user/project_specific_translations. Project-specific translation files override BOINC translation files.

Doing a translation

If you are interested in doing translation for BOINC or for a specific project:

• Contact the translation manager. For BOINC this is Robi Buecheler (rf.buecheler at switzerland.org). Robi is also managing translations for SETI@home. For other projects, contact the project.
• Obtain (typically via CVS) the 'authoritative' translation file. Typically this is en.po. The translation files for BOINC can be found here.
• Create a translation file for your language. You can do this using a text editor or a specialized tool such as poedit. Send this to the translation manager, who will then install it on the project's web site. Check all relevant pages and fix as needed.
• Because web sites are dynamic, you will have to periodically update your translation. You can do this efficiently by looking at the CVS diffs of the authoritative translation file.