Language Skins

[sashaeskie]

I'm using Lingo 4 and Flare 7. I have already had help translated into another language (Polish) but I missed the Webhelp UI elements, i.e., the accordion labels, the See Also and Related Topics, etc. I understand that I can create a user-defined Language Skin in Flare. But how do I get that skin to the translator so that he or she can translate those elements? Also, not all the Webhelp elements need to be translated. For example, I'm not using Feedback Server so none of that stuff needs to be translated. Thanks for any guidance you can provide.

[RiverMonster]

Hi,

I think the important point to note here is that if a label is not explicitly defined in a skin file then Flare uses hardcoded defaults. You can see this for yourself by opening the default skin in a text editor -- it does not have any labels defined and yet a Webhelp built with the skin will correctly have terms like TOC, Index, Search etc.

Flare has "internal" localized skins for some languages. There is no file for these skins, they are in the code. If you set the project to a language that does have an (internal) localized skin available Flare uses the appropriate "internal" skin. The only complication comes if the text in the real skin file has been edited. E.g. if the English author changed "TOC" to "Contents". When this happens an explicit label definition is added to the skin file. So when the project language is changed to, say, French the word "Contents" appears in the French Webhelp and needs to be explicitly localized to "Table des matieres" or whatever you want. This explicit localization can be done either in the Flare interface by editing the label of the associated style in the skin, or by opening the skin file in an editor and editing the label there. I personally think it is easier to do this in editor as you can immediately see all the terms that need localizing without having to check against the localized Webhelp.

In the case of Polish there is no (internal) language skin available. So you have to localize the hidden implicit terms plus any explicitly defined terms. However, you of course only want to localize the terms that are actually used in the skin and not all possible skin terms. So the problem becomes how the translator can identify those terms that need translating, which is the question you are asking. What you need to do is explicitly define all terms. This way the translator will see them in the skin file (viewing using the Flare skin editor or a text editor). To explicitly define the terms, proceed as follows:

i. Look at the source Webhelp and make a note of all terms that are used on buttons, tooltips etc
ii. Open the skin file in Flare.
iii. For each term you want to explicitly define, find the label or tooltip setting that controls the term in the Styles section. If a term is implicitly defined you will see “(not set)”. Explicitly define the term by typing it.
iv. When you have done this for all settings your skin file should have lots of label definitions like the two below. The translator needs to translate words such as those in bold without altering the surrounding code:
<Style
Name="ToolbarItem">
<Classes>
<StyleClass
Name="Back">
<Properties>
<Property
Name="Tooltip">Back</Property>
</Properties>
</StyleClass>
</Classes>
</Style>
<Style
Name="AccordionItem">
<Classes>
<StyleClass
Name="TOC">
<Properties>
<Property
Name="Label">Contents</Property>
</Properties>
</StyleClass>
</Classes>
</Style>


Cheers,

Adrian

[RiverMonster]

Just to clarify things...the solution I proposed does not require Lingo. However, there may be a better way to do what you want using Lingo. I don't have it so can't comment on that.