[Xerte] Re: Multilanguage support

[Julian Tenney]

I would probably:

- use an xml resource file, and get the pre-loader to load it before it loads the main engine;
- replace the text strings with references to the xml you loaded, using xmlToObject paths, i.e. load the xml then turn it into an object with xmlToObject, then you get resources[0].french[0].tocTitle which you can use to reference the language you loaded for all UI stuff in the default interface. There isn't that much: the accessibility probably counts for the vast majority of it, so look out for accessibility properties being set as well as the buttons / labels.

Alternatively, make you own custom interface that does the same thing: no need to mess with the engine that way - but a lot of functionality to replicate if you want something similar to the default interface with all the accessibility stuff. Other people have taken this approach, and it's not hard, but there is still some English left in there through the engine.

The text on the buttons is graphic, so either remove the text and just have the symbols, or make the text dynamic - but it looks bad. Try and stay away from different buttons I think,

-----Original Message-----
From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Tom Reijnders
Sent: 17 February 2011 11:10
To: Xerte discussion list
Subject: [Xerte] Multilanguage support

I guess this is more of an architectural question than a how to. I send 
it to the list because perhaps more people are interested in the subject.

I have a request to be able to make multi language learning objects, 
i.e. preferably by specifying a locale in the URL to choose the initial  
language, and a drop down list to select one of the available languages. 
At the moment I am looking at the standalone Xerte 2. environment. As 
far as I can tell, there are four different parts of the Xerte system 
that are involved:

1. The player (either custom, or the default player)
2. The templates
3. The content (of the templates)
4. Xerte itself (the authoring environment)

First thoughts:
1. The default player
  - Create a resource file per language that contains all the names of 
the text items in the user interface, like the labels in the drop down 
lists and the texts of the TTS system.
  - Another solution would be to load a different player per language. 
The most flexible solution, but a maintenance nightmare.
  So lets look at the first solution:
  * Questions
  Q1. What format to make the 'resource' file?
  A1. Probably XML.
  Q2. What to do about texts within buttons?
  A2.a. Remove them and replace them with text strings as much as 
possible (Don't know how).
  A2.b Add buttons for each language in the library

2. The templates
  - Just create a template for each language and encode the language in 
the template file name.
  - Create template 'resource' files.
  I think I would prefer the first solution, because it would give you 
more flexibility (at the cost of maintainability). But, primarily, it 
doesn't require any changes on the authoring tools (for the time being).

3. The content.
If you select a different template file per language, you can make sure 
that the content of each template is written to a different XML file. 
Drawback is that you have to fill in the template a number of times in 
disjunct sessions. (No quick switching of languages)

4. Also given the choice of a separate template file per language, 
nothing has to change on the Xerte side of things. As an author, you 
will be responsible of the correct naming of the files.

How will this fit in with Xerte Toolkits? (I would suspect that it will 
be nice fit, because the only thing that has to be adapted is the 
player, but I have not enough of a clear picture of the authoring side 
of things). And last but not least, how will this fit in with Xerte 3 
(or the Xerte 3 plans).

Any comments, any thoughts?

Regards,

Tom

-- 

--

Tom Reijnders
TOR Informatica
Chopinlaan 27
5242HM Rosmalen
Tel: 073 5226191
Fax: 073 5226196



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