XML style for translation

[Mark Johnson]

Tommy Reynolds wrote:
> Now as we focus on the translation problems, er,
> opportunities, I'd like a definitive answer about this.
> 
> Which of the following formatting paragraph styles does the translation team
> find more friendly:
> 
> 	When in anger or in doubt, run in
> 	circles, scream and shout.  The
> 	quick brown fox jumped over the
> 	lazy dog.
> 
> or:
> 
> 	When in anger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.
> 	The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
> 
> Specificly, should each sentence from the source document be:
> 
> 	1) lines justified all together into the semblance
> 	   of a paragraph; or
> 	2) a separate line, no matter how long it gets.

Hopefully, the new XML diff tools won't care which style is used. But I 
guess we need to hear from translation to get the definitive answer on 
this. FWIW, glad you raised this issue, T.

"Only your translator knows for sure..."

Cheers,
Mark


> 
> Personaly, I prefer #2 where each sentence forms its own formatting
> object.  This avoids any distractions trying to minic the final
> document layout.  I've seen diffs that just changed "the end.  The",
> with two spaces, into "the end. The", with a single space.
> 
> Ultimately, the point of XML DocBook is to separate content from
> presentation so I could live with either, but I'm no translator.
> Well, maybe if you consider redneck-to-english a formal process ;-)
> 
> I'm not advocating layout surgery on existing content, but would like
> a "best practices" recomendation from the folks who know what they
> are talking about.
> 
> Cheers
> 


-- 
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Mark Johnson                     <mjohnson at redhat.com>
OS Product Documentation
Engineering, Red Hat, Inc.       <http://www.redhat.com>
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