[Kete] Sorry for the delay!!!!

[Walter McGinnis]

Hi Massoud,

Thanks for alerting me to the problem... I'll investigate with haste.

To answer your question, there are two parts to complete translation  
of Kete functionality; user interface translation including ability  
for the user to pick a preferred locale and user submitted content  
translation.

The first part has been implemented, sans html template repositioning  
and the possible Zebra work you mentioned , for 1.3.  The second part,  
originally scheduled for 1.3, has been pushed to 1.4 as the client has  
reprioritized and there is no funding to implement it.

I believe that a lot of sites will be single language and that the  
interface translation is probably the most important for them.  The  
content translation has some great possible uses, especially for sites  
that use as Kete as a CMS and must provide content in multiple  
languages.  We have the design for the implementation done, just need  
funding to finish it.

I'll get back to you about the commenting problem shortly.

Cheers,
Walter

On Jun 28, 2009, at 1:21 AM, massoud alshareef wrote:

> Hello Walter,
>
> When I tried to join the  Kete 1.3 translation feature discution  I  
> got a Permission Denied  message in spite I was logged in.
>
> I mean to ask you if the translation feature has been moved to Kete  
> 1.4 will see the light in 1.3, because I read somewhere in  
> kete..net.nz  that t is now moved to Kete 1.4 for short of funding  
> reason.
>
> Thanks,
> Massoud M. AlShareef,
> KnowledgeWare Technologies
> (P.O. Box 230-312)
> Riyadh 11321, Saudi Arabia
> Cel: +966 505 307 267
> massoud at kwareict.com
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 6:50 PM, massoud alshareef <massoud at kwareict.com 
> > wrote:
> Thank you Walter for your kind and good news email. When I did not  
> hear back form you then I just had to understand that you are too  
> busy working in Kete 1.2 at the time to answer all users comments  
> and questions.
>
> Yes indeed, Kete 1.3 will be great to base our upcoming bilingual  
> (Arabic/ English) projects on. We will be more than happy to look  
> into localizing Kete 1.3 to Arabic. I will review the information  
> and let you know our view and position for Arabic kete interface.
>
> We have completed localizing Koha 3.0 to Arabic. You can take a look  
> at Arabic Koha OPAC here. A screen shot of the OPAC is also attached  
> in case if you could not read the Arabic screens. You will notice at  
> the bottom of the screen links to switch the screen orientation  
> between left-to-right for English and right-to-left for Arabic. Such  
> capability require some html coding to be sent to the browser at the  
> time of switching.
>
> As both Koha and Kete search capabilities are based on Zebra, we  
> think we will benefit greatly from the work we had done for Koha on  
> handling Arabic words prefixes and suffixes. Such wok is very  
> essential for proper Arabic searching, retrieval and sorting. To  
> give you an ides, the word "the" in English is not a separate word  
> in Arabic but rather a string of two characters (Alif and Laam)  
> that  prefixes the word and so it is connected to the word. Thus, in  
> principle the two word "library" and "the-library" for Zebra  
> indexing and therefore retrieval are two different words and will  
> not point to the same word in the dictionary unless some kind of pre- 
> processing is done on the word "the-library" before it is sent to  
> Zebra indexing. This kind of pre-processing for over popular 10  
> prefixes and suffixes of Arabic are already in operation today and  
> will be very easily ported to support Zebra driving Kete searching  
> and sorting.
>
> We will come back with our views on how we will proceed with Kete  
> 1.3 localization and defined the kind of work to be done.
>
> By the way, Arabic should be classified in the top three languages  
> not the 7th as Wikipedia says. This is because moslims around the  
> world need to understand and read the Arabic script to understand  
> their religion including the holy Quran. Further, Farisi and Udru  
> languages are based on Arabic script and the notion of writing from  
> right to left. I it will be nice to share such peice of info with you.
>
> Thanks,
> Massoud M. AlShareef,
> KnowledgeWare Technologies
> (P.O. Box 230-312)
> Riyadh 11321, Saudi Arabia
> Cel: +966 505 307 267
> massoud at kwareict.com
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 7:06 AM, Walter McGinnis  
> <walter at katipo.co.nz> wrote:
> Dear Massoud Alshareef,
>
> I just came across your message from last year.  I apologize for not  
> getting back to you, but I never actually received it.  I believe  
> moderator outgoing emails were not enabled on Kete.net.nz.
>
> At any rate, I like the sound of your ideas.  You'll be happy to  
> know that Kete 1.3 will include the ability to have different  
> localizations based on user preference and site configuration.  In  
> fact we are looking for translators as you can see here:
>
> http://kete.net.nz/blog/topics/show/283-getting-excited-by-13-kete-ui-translations
>
> I hope your presentation went well so long ago.  Please let me know  
> if you need any further assistance.
>
> Cheers,
> Walter McGinnis
> walter at katipo.co.nz
> http://katipo.co.nz/
> http://twitter.com/wtem
>
>
>
> Hello Walter,
>
> I am planning to suggest Kete for the Saudi Minsitry of Education  
> (MOE) here in Riyadh to be used along with Arabic Koha ZOOM (for  
> school libraries automation) as the enabling tecnology for the  
> Educational Media Centers. I like your sugested senario for using  
> Kete in classes. Do you think we can follow the same senario for K12  
> schools ? MOE currently looks after over 30,000 K12 schools and a  
> Learning Development project under King Abdullah name is going on  
> right now with 50 schools selcted for the first phase.
>
> I have been invited Sunday morning nect week to do a presentation on  
> the latest development of Information Access Technologies in the  
> fields of school library automation, educational media center,  
> content management, web 2 trends amd directions, etc. I wish to ask  
> you if you can supply me with docs, presentations, and/or studies  
> about use of Kete serving in subjects matter. I have a strong  
> feeling about Kete use in the educational sectors. The OSS concept  
> of Kete software gives us lots of room for localization and for new  
> developments contributions to meet our local cultural needs.
>
> Thanks for your swift response.
>
> Massoud Alshareef/ KwareTech
>
>