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This should normally be done within the [[Projects:Go Bible/Go Bible Creator#Collections_text_files|collections text]] file – not by directly editing the internal ui.properties file. | This should normally be done within the [[Projects:Go Bible/Go Bible Creator#Collections_text_files|collections text]] file – not by directly editing the internal ui.properties file. | ||
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| + | The format of a Java .properties file is described in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.properties | ||
=== UI properties === | === UI properties === | ||
Latest revision as of 17:30, 26 October 2012
Contents
Translating the Go Bible User Interface
Most User Interface (UI) items for Go Bible can be localized by replacing the default English text using the various UI properties.
This should normally be done within the collections text file – not by directly editing the internal ui.properties file.
The format of a Java .properties file is described in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.properties
UI properties
Here is a flat list of the available UI properties (for release 2.4.x) and their default values:
UI-Goto: Go to UI-Cancel: Cancel UI-Preferences: Preferences UI-History: History UI-OK: OK UI-Search: Search UI-Search-Results: Search Results UI-Add-Bookmark: Add Bookmark UI-Bookmarks: Bookmarks UI-Exit: Exit UI-Send: Send UI-Send-SMS: Send SMS UI-Send-MMS: Send MMS UI-About: About UI-Loading: Loading UI-Save: Save UI-Font-Size: Font size UI-Small: Small UI-Medium: Medium UI-Large: Large UI-Font-Style: Font style UI-Plain: Plain UI-Bold: Bold UI-Full-Screen: Full screen UI-On: On UI-Off: Off UI-Theme: Theme UI-Themes: Themes UI-Theme-Paper: Paper UI-Theme-Computer: Computer UI-Theme-Floral: Floral UI-Theme-Natural: Natural UI-Theme-Blue: Blue UI-Theme-Sunshine: Sunshine UI-Change: Change UI-Select: Select UI-Reverse-Colours: Reverse Colours UI-Reverse-Characters: Reverse Characters UI-Book: Book UI-Books: Books UI-All: All UI-New-Testament: New Testament UI-Old-Testament: Old Testament UI-Gospels: Gospels UI-Pauls-Letters: Paul's Letters UI-Other-Letters: Other Letters UI-Books-Of-Moses: Books of Moses UI-Historical: Historical UI-Poetic: Poetic UI-Major-Prophets: Major Prophets UI-Minor-Prophets: Minor Prophets UI-Chapter: Chapter UI-Search-Text: Search Text UI-From-Book: From Book UI-To-Book: To Book UI-Stop: Stop UI-Searching: Searching UI-Found: Found UI-Please-Wait: Please wait UI-Results: Results UI-View: View UI-Delete-Bookmark: Delete Bookmark UI-Delete-Bookmark-Alert: Delete the selected bookmark? UI-Delete: Delete UI-Send-Verses: Send Verses UI-Back: Back UI-To: to UI-Select-Verses-To-Send: Select verses to send UI-Error: Error UI-Message-Too-Large-To-Be-Sent: Message too large to be sent UI-Verse-Does-Not-Exist: Verse does not exist UI-Phone-Number: Phone Number UI-Of: of
Other numeral systems
A new UI property called UI-Digits facilitates using a different numeral system for chapter and verse numbers. The method is to specify a ten character string corresponding to the digits 0 through 9. Examples are given in the SymScroll page.
Unused UI properties
For various reasons, some of the original UI properties are not used in the latest software release. These are listed below:
UI-OK: OK UI-Send-MMS: Send MMS UI-Book: Book UI-Chapter: Chapter UI-From-Book: From Book UI-To-Book: To Book
Translators should still translate these properties, in case:
- the removed feature is fixed and brought back into use again
- the UI translation is used to localize an earlier build
Notes:
- UI-Send-MMS is currently out of use because the Send MMS feature never worked.
- UI-Book and UI-Chapter were left overs from very early code.
- UI-Chapter is in the SymScroll branch Go To form for touch-screen phones.
- UI-From-Book and UI-To-Book were left over from an earlier method of specifying the Search scope. These are re-used in the SymScroll branch.
New UI properties
The SymScroll branch of Go Bible requires several new UI properties, which are not listed here in this current page.
Some menu items displayed by Go Bible are not part of the Go Bible UI per se. These are the words Edit, More, OK & Select, which are (in most cases) part of the phone menu. Such items appear when Go Bible accesses an existing MIDP phone feature, or simply borrows the UI string from it. These items usually change when the phone language is changed, e.g. to French, for which these four items become Modifier, Autres, OK[1], Selection.
- ↑ OK is common to most languages, so it doesn't often change.
The Go Bible tagline
Jolon Faichney hard-coded the original tagline, "For the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ and for the furtherance of His kingdom."
No doubt he had sound reasons for this, that made good sense when he first began the project in 2003. Whilst we recognize why this might present a problem for some people groups, it is not yet something we have moved to the translatable UI.
Localization
For localization, the developer should translate the strings after the colon for each UI-property. Do not alter the identifying names of any UI-property.
The order of these UI-properties does not matter, so it's quite acceptable to use a sorted copy.
The UI translation should be Unicode text encoded as UTF-8 (without BOM). Use a suitable text editor.
To use a UI translation with Go Bible Creator, simply include these lines within your collections text file.
Context
From the flat list of the UI properties, it may not be apparent to a translator what is the context for each item.
To assist understanding, here is a contextualised interactive picture of the Go Bible Menu / UI.
Notes:
- The external link requires Adobe Flash™.
- It was exported from a mind map that I made using FreeMind.
- There are Flash controls in light grey at the top left and top centre of the page.
- One of these controls will FIT the (expanded) object to the display area.
- One of the controls on the top left is a search box.
- Each node represents a Go Bible UI property. The node names are the UI default English text.
- Each node can be expanded/collapsed at the click of the mouse.
- The image on the right is of the collapsed view. Collapsed nodes are indicated by a small circle.
- Node names in grey italics are no longer used.
- Node names in green are borrowed from the phone menu.
Further notes (UI properties):
- UI-Loading – is displayed temporarily when the Go Bible is loading data into memory
- UI-Of – is part of the Go Bible display top line (just before the total number of verses in the current chapter).
- UI-Of – for languages in which such constructions as 13 of 29 don't apply, a simple workaround is to use the solidus " / " instead of " of ", e.g. 13 / 29 .
Remark lines
Remark lines are permitted within ui.properties. These must start with the hash # character. Such a commented file is useful to clarify the context for each item.
Notes:
- These remark lines are ignored by the Go Bible software.
- An example is provided in the SymScroll page.
- The Unicode text editor Notepad++ displays properties file remark lines in a different colour.
Submitting a UI translation
The simplest method is to just paste the Unicode text for the UI translation into a new topic in the Go Bible Forum.
Notes:
- You must be signed in first!
- There is a topic category for User interface translations.
- Make sure you don't forget to clearly identify the language.
- We already have UI translations for many languages, so please submit new ones only for languages we don't already have.
- Corrections to existing UI translations are also welcomed.
See also
- How to change the User Interface (UI) for an existing Go Bible application.
