View source for Plover Wiki/Translation instructions

This page explains how to translate pages on this wiki to other languages using the Translate extension. Make sure to follow these steps as close as possible.

=== Prepare for translation ===

==== Decorate the page with necessary syntax ====

Start editing the source of the page you would like to translate, and wrap the entire page in a <code>&lt;translate&gt;''[...]''&lt;/translate&gt;</code> tag. This will automatically split the entirety of the page into ''translation sections'', by double line feeds.

{{Warning|text='''Make sure that markup elements are properly split!''' For example, if you encounter a markup such as ...
 == Heading ==
 Content
... , it's preferable to split it to ...
 == Heading ==
 
 Content
... , which ensures proper separation of translation sections.}}

After that, add a <code>&lt;languages /&gt;</code> tag to the top of the page, which provides a language selection menu. The document should now look like ...
 &lt;languages /&gt;
 &lt;translate&gt;
 ''[...]''
 &lt;/translate&gt;

Save your edits. '''Yay!''' The page can now be marked for translation.

==== Mark article for translation ====

After this, you should '''contact an administrator''' to mark your article for translation. We can't provide an average response time, but it probably shouldn't take more than a week.

== Translating the page ==

When your article is marked for translation by an admin, you should see a '''"Translate this page"''' link on the top of the article. Follow this link, and from the top right, change the language option to your translation target. A menu for translation should show up. The steps for translation should thereafter become clear. If you have problems, check out [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Extension:Translate/Translation_example the article about translation on MediaWiki docs].

{{Info|text='''Pro Tip:''' When you're done translating and the page doesn't seem to have updated&mdash;of course, with the appropriate language set on the menu at the bottom of the article&mdash;try purging the cache data of the article from '''[[Special:Purge]]'''.}}

'''Hurray!''' Your translation should now be available to everyone browsing the wiki.

== Issues? ==

We talk about this translations of this wiki on the [https://discord.gg/0lQde43a6dGmAMp2 Plover Discord Server], at the "plover.wiki translation" thread of the #server-feedback channel. Feel free to report any issues with translation there.

== Epilogue ==

The MediaWiki documentation has [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Extension:Translate/Page_translation_example a translation preparation guide for administrators], but it lacks some pitfalls we ran into. We're not sure that they aren't specific to us, but the final frustration led to the creation of this document.