Comment 8 for bug 742857

On 2011-03-31 16:01, Phil Bull wrote:
> More information on i18n (from a non-technical user's perspective)
> is needed in the system docs,

Well, I'm contributing with a suggested link to "Language Support Help"
from "Customizing Your Computer" (config-desktop), assuming that the
latter document will be used also in Natty. ;-) See merge proposal.
Also assuming that the link, if approved, will make it in some way to
the Natty version of
https://help.ubuntu.com/10.10/config-desktop/C/index.html

> The upstream GNOME desktop help is currently undergoing a massive
> overhaul, and I'm not sure we have enough suitable i18n material in
> there at the moment. Would you like to have a look at it and let me
> know what you think? You can see a recent build (work in progress)
> here : http://library.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/unstable/

The only document I find is "yelp ghelp:gnome-help#session-language" or
http://library.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/unstable/session-language.html

I for one don't like the sentence:
"The easiest way to add support for different languages is at the time
of installing your system."

With my Ubuntu glasses on, I suggest that it's patched in Ubuntu to be
replaced with something along these lines:
- You can add support for different languages either at the time of
installing your system, or within a session using the <ulink type="help"
url="ghelp:language-selector#support-tool"><application>Language
Support</application> tool</ulink>.
(That link syntax doesn't work in gnome-help in Natty, but you get the
idea.)

Otherwise, even if GDM in Ubuntu has undergone some significant i18n
changes, the text would work for us.

Also without my Ubuntu glasses, the above sentence isn't very smart IMO.
I mean, how many users will read it before installing? And letting them
know afterwards that the easiest way to do something would have been at
installation can't reasonably serve any purpuse but annoying them...

Let's return to your saying that you're "not sure [you] have enough
suitable i18n material in there at the moment". Let me ask: Does GNOME
provide any i18n software besides what's in GDM? If not, I don't really
see what else should be said in the upstream gnome-help. If I understand
it correctly, the various distributions deal with i18n in different
ways, and if that's true, the i18n user help should be distribution
specific, shouldn't it? I agree with Martin that the document I propose
for language-selector wouldn't fit in gnome-help, even if we leave its
level of detail aside.

HTH
Gunnar