Making a Good Language Pack - Print Topic

In order to make a language pack that I can put on the downloads page, your pack must be setup in the following way (directory structure):

Code

/cgi-bin/
  /forum/
    /Languages
       Languagename.lng
       /Languagename/
          /*.lng (all the language files)
/public_html/
  /blahdocs/
    /buttons/
      /*.gif
    /images/
      /*.gif
  /template/
    /News.html
    /winter/
      /*.*

Please DO NOT add a "custom" theme. Use the "winter" theme (or the theme that's distrobuted within the CURRENT version ONLY). This is to avoid any confusion.

The Language pack should be setup the following way (in the Languagename.lng file):

Code

$char = 'ISO-8859-1';  # Character Set to use

This value should be changed to the character set you are using. If you do not know, try to search Google for the correct character set.

Code

# Language Pack: English (US)        Version 2 #

This should be changed to suite your pack. Please DO NOT change any other part of the headers, as this makes the language pack look less professional.

Code

	'profile'   => qq~<img src="$buttons/profile.gif" border="0" alt="Member Center">~,

This, along with ALL other images should be changed in the following way:

Code

	'profile'   => qq~<img src="$buttons/LANGUAGENAME/imagenametranslation.gif" border="0" alt="Name Translation">~,

Please DO NOT keep these the same as they were as some administrators would like users to be able to use more than one Language pack (such as English, Chinese, and Spanish).  You can change the buttons directory in the theme, but I highly recommend AGAINST doing that as it'll confuse the heck out of new administrators.

After you have created the language pack in this forum, please submit it to me, Justin, either via PM or via e-mail.  I will then review it and add it to the downloads page.

These steps are not to confuse or make the translators jobs harder, but rather a way to make the system and the language packs more professional to everyone who uses them.  A final note: please do not change certain characteristics of the forum and include them in your pack as a mod.  This confuses people.  All new language packs should follow this standard and should appear in this format.

Thanks and God Bless,
Justin

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