[A12n-forum] Re: [Fwd: Re: [lingu-dev] new functionality]

[Dwayne Bailey <dwayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Andrew,

On So, 2005-05-08 at 17:55 +1000, Andrew Cunningham wrote:
> Just a few thoughts about opensource localization and African languages.
> 
> My interest is more on input and rendering issues, which i see as a 
> first step before full localisation.
> 
> For instance, if I create keyboards for Sudanese langauges, its obvious 
> what paths to take on Windows and MacOS to achieve this. Its less 
> certain to me what pathe to take on Linux, since it seems that i'll 
> probbably need to support multiple methods.
> 
> For instance, do I support xkb, SCIM or IIIMF, or will I need to support 
> multiple methods, will the average end user know which solution to sue 
> for their own distro.

We worked on xkb.  It has documentation but I needed a long time to
understand what I needed to do.  IIIMF seems the way to go for new
languages as I think this will replace xkb and friends on Linux.

You are right this is a real issue.  I have experienced the same issue.
Its one of the reasons we started documenting our learnings at
translate.sf.net/wiki.  Windows and Mac are easy because this level is
controled by the vendor.  Which has positive and negative aspects

+ Its standardised, one method, one place
+ The documentation is usually in the same place
+ Proprietary vendors usually (not always) have better documentation
- You depend on the benevolence of the software vendor

-- 
regards
Dwayne