Note: AutoAuth is now being developed by Steffan Schlein. If you would like to leave feedback, please create an issue on GitHub.
My browser extension translation platform, Interpr.it, is now able to parse locale files from extensions for Firefox, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, or any other Mozilla-powered program, and it can likewise generate Mozilla-compatible locale files. The interface for translation is the same as the one for translating Chrome extensions, but when the locales are downloaded via the API, the files are returned in the format in which they were originally uploaded (either DTD files or Java-style .properties files).
This is most obviously introducing a competitor to Babelzilla, the only major site offering a translation platform for Mozilla extensions. Babelzilla is a functionally sufficient solution for translation (I’ve used it without much issue for almost six years), but I’m moving away from it for two reasons:
- Translation/localization is a problem that I’d like to understand better, and I find the best way to understand a problem is to try and solve it yourself.
- I think that the experience of localizing an extension (or developing a localizable extension) can be better, and I have the hubris to think that I can be the one to make it better.
In the spirit of putting my money1 where my mouth2 is, I’ve moved five of my Firefox extensions (AutoAuth, Feed Sidebar, OPML Support, RSS Ticker, and Links Like This) from Babelzilla to Interpr.it.
If you are interested in trying Interpr.it, upload your extension (either using the Web form or API), and let me know how it works for you.
- For extremely small values of “money.”
- For extremely large values of “mouth.”
The site can’t be viewed without cookies: an infinite locale-related redirection happens.
It seems to require a Google Account. What about adding BrowserID / Mozilla Persona support? :-)
P. S.: this page gives me two checkboxes to subscribe to comments.
Have you decided on open sourcing interpr.it yet? I am looking for a more stable alternative to BabelZilla (my experience being quite the opposite of “without much issue”) but I know whether the new system has its own issues before I hit them. And of course I would like to help solving these issues.
Yes, I’ll be publishing the source to Interpr.it on GitHub, probably this week.
I unfortunately made the mistake of looking at my code too closely before publishing it and found a few schema changes that I want to change before anyone else starts using it. I’m still planning on open-sourcing it, but it’s been pushed back significantly.
If you’re interested in just reading the source and acknowledge that the data storage schema might change, I can e-mail you a copy of it.
I have been an early tester and I am glad you push this clever project forward.
Minor thing: the “saved” message position makes it uneasy to notice so people used to look for an “OK” button may be uncertain whether their work is saved.
BTW: is there any reason why there is no “fr” locale slot available for your own recently submitted extensions? Or did I miss anything?
That’s strange about the “fr” (and “fr-FR”) locales; they must have been omitted when I first assembled the list of supported locales. They’re included now.
Thanks. Note there is no need of fr-FR any longer for Mozilla apps, i don’t know for Chrome addons.
Great service, Chris. Are you still planning on open sourcing? There are a few issues preventing me from using it to manage translation for Sage, and I’d be happy to help you solve them.
I just pushed the sourcecode to GitHub here: https://github.com/cfinke/Interpr.it
I was going to revisit a lot of it and possibly rewrite some of it, but since I made zero progress on it in six months, I decided to just put it out there.
What issues are you having with managing translations for Sage?
Great! I’ll take a look.
My biggest issue is that about half of Sage’s locales don’t seem to be recognized. Perhaps a name mapping problem?
https://github.com/petea/sage/tree/master/src/chrome/locale