Translation process

Location

We will host your translation on the W3C site, in the same directory as the original page. This facilitates language negotiation and management of updates when the source text is changed.

Please send the XHTML file to us.

Character encoding

Please use UTF-8.

File naming

Please name your file <original-file-name>.<lang>.php, where <lang> is an BCP 47 language tag. For instance, the name of the file qa-character-encoding.en.php, translated into Spanish, would be qa-character-encoding.es.php.

PHP code

The HTML source code contains PHP code in various places. With one exception, you should not change any of this code. PHP code starts with <?php and ends with ?>. The only PHP code you should edit is the first block, which appears at the top of the source file.

At the top of the file are a number of variable assignments in the PHP code. Some of these need to be changed by the translator. Follow the instructions in comments (ie. text after //). The comments will indicate what needs changing and what the value should be.

Ensure that, if you use quotes, you do not do so in a way that would invalidate the string boundaries.

The variables that need attention are currently:

• $clang
• $isTranslation
• $copyrightYear
• $thisVersion
• $translators
• $enVersion

As a courtesy, we allow you to provide a link from your name to a page that gives information about you as an individual or about your translation organization. For an individual, this could be a personal blog or a bio page. For a translation organization, this could be their home or about page. We will not accept links to pages that, in our view, are overly heavy with links for products that are not related to translation. The purpose of the link should be to provide information to readers of the article about the person or organization providing the translation. Using a link to any other type of page or site is not acceptable.

You may write names in your local script (eg. translator's, or even author's names), but please add the romanised form of the name in parentheses immediately after.

You should also translate any HTML code within the first PHP block. In particular, this includes links to the headings in the document, which must be translated exactly the same as the headings themselves.

Markup and styling

Please preserve the original markup. Markup should only need adaptation in exceptional circumstances and small amounts. If you feel you need to change the markup, please contact us.

We may need to change the styling to suit a particular language or script. If so, please contact us with your proposals. Typically, we would create an additional stylesheet for the language that would overwrite the features in the main stylesheet as necessary.

Keywords and description meta-data

You may replace the English text or add a translation alongside. If you leave the English meta in, please ensure that there are lang="en" and xml:lang="en" attributes attached to it.

Linking to other pages

If there is a link to a specification or W3C document, etc., for which a translated version exists, please feel free to add a link to the translated version after the original link.

Links to pages below /International should not start with http://www.w3.org. Nor should they end with .html (this is to enable language negotiation and allow us to test the file before upload).

Please check that all links work before sending the file for publication.

Non-visible text

Please ensure that you have translated all text, including alt and title text, and text for accessibility use.

Changes to the text

Translators should provide a list of the following:

• instances where, in addition to translating the document, they adapt the content, eg. providing culturally relevant examples, or adding explanations or notes to the text
• updates to the translated content of a previously translated version, unless this is based on changes made in the English version ( in which case the reference to the original needs to be changed).

This information will be added to a blog post on the Internationalization home page made when the translation is announced.

Notification of new or updated translations

Richard Ishida will notify the translators@w3.org and www-international@w3.org lists after a translation is uploaded to the W3C International site. He will also add an blog entry to the Internationalization home page.

Coralie Mercier and Ivan Herman will then add information to the RDF database to update the list of i18n translations.

Help us by updating the translation as the document changes

The pages on the Internationalization site are likely to change at any time, and if we are language negotiating it is important that the translations remain up to date. Please track the changes in the original English document and update your translation as appropriate.