[sib-access] Keystrokes + International Versions
- From: "George Bell" <george@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <sib-access@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2008 21:47:50 +0100
Hi Dan,
I hope I'm not playing grandmothers sucking eggs here.
I've been involved in International software development for
many a long year now. Not programming, but coping with
necessary variation and the associated documentation.
Keystroke commands have been, are, and will continue to be,
a nightmare. For example in an application I'm closely
involved with, the File menu item "Close" is "Fermer" in
French. Shortcut letter C and F respectively. This choice
was made by the French because it is the same in the
localised version of other major applications.
This poses two problems. One for the programmer and one for
me as Help file author.
For the programmer the solution is to check the
International Language in use, and then use a series of
Custom Keystroke Command Tables.
I then have to ensure that all keystroke commands are
entered into the Help documentation as "Variables", in the
English Version, for example: File_Close = C
When we then require a translation into French, I then copy
the entire Help project, change the variables accordingly,
for example: File_Close = F and the recompile. The
translator then produces a English document, with the
correct keystrokes, ready for translation.
This may seem a long winded process, but essentially it
simply results in a few changes to one major file - the list
of keystroke commands.
Dare I suggest you might consider this route?
George.
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