* Localizing Fugu 1.1 *

On this disk image, there are two folders: OldStrings, containing the translation work you've previously done; and NewStrings, containing the English strings files. You need to translate the items in NewStrings. Most of the work should be copy and paste from Old to New.

Copy the OldStrings and NewStrings folders from this disk image to your hard disk. I've put them on the disk image so you can always get fresh copies of the strings files if something goes awry.


* Editing the .strings files *

Open the .strings files in an editor capable of reading and writing to UTF-16 format. I recommend SubEthaEdit (formerly Hydra):

http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit

 To set the File Encoding format to UTF-16, open SubEthaEdit, select Format > File Encodings > Unicode (UTF-16). Then open the .strings files. You can also use Project Builder or Xcode to edit the .strings files. Be sure again to set the File Encoding to UTF-16 in the Format menu if you choose to use Project Builder.

When you've got a .strings file open in the editor of your choice, you'll see a number of lines like this:

/* NSMenuItem : <title:About Fugu> (oid:58) */
"About Fugu" = "About Fugu";

You can ignore the text between the /* */. It's a comment. In the above example, it refers to an interface element. Don't edit the comments: if the .strings file refers to a nib (interface document), the comment contains information about where the localized string goes in the interface.

The important bit is the second of the two lines:

"About Fugu" = "About Fugu";

The text on the left is a key. The text on the right is the translation that will appear in the application. So, if I were translating into German, I would enter my translation between the quotes on the right:

Key:            Translation:
"About Fugu" = "Über Fugu";

When Fugu is run in German, it will look up the key "About Fugu" and discover that the German equivalent is "Über Fugu", and display the translation to the user, when necessary.

Remember to save your changes frequently.


* Returning the edited files *

When your work is complete, create a disk image containing the strings files and send it to fugu@umich.edu. To create a disk image, open Disk Copy
(/Applications/Utilities/Disk Copy) and choose New > Image from Folder or Volume. Find your NewStrings folder containing your translations, select it, and click the Image button. A compressed disk image containing your translations will be created. Attach this disk image in an e-mail to fugu@umich.edu with a descriptive subject (e.g., "Danish localization for Fugu 1.1").


Thanks again for your hard work. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at admorten@umich.edu.

--andrew