ubuntu-manual team mailing list archive

[Benjamin Humphrey <humphreybc@xxxxxxxxx>]

Awesome work Kevin, truly awesome! Well done!

On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 10:14 PM, Kevin Godby <godbyk@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hello, all.
>
> Since I won't be able to attend the meeting this weekend, I wanted to
> write up a quick status report of what I've been up to.
>
> I've been spending most of my time this week working on incorporating
> the translations back into our manual compiling process.  I've updated
> the Makefile so that you can compile the translations:"make
> ubuntu-manual-LANG.pdf", where LANG is the language code [see the po/
> dir for a list of possibilities], will compile that language's manual
> with whatever translations are available.
>
> A few things to note regarding the translations:  Since our manual is
> being translated into so many varied languages (using varied
> scripts/alphabets), I've switched to using XeLaTeX instead of pdfLaTeX
> due to its better handling of Unicode.  Additionally, XeLaTeX gives us
> access to a *much* wider range of typefaces, which will help a great
> deal since we're supporting so many scripts.  The babel package is not
> compatible with XeLaTeX, so we're using its successor: polyglossia.
> Unfortunately, polyglossia is not included with the TeX Live 2007
> packages that Ubuntu provides.  We can't install the polyglossia
> package on its own because it requires a newer version of XeLaTeX than
> what the Ubuntu packages provide.  So if you want to compile a
> translated document, you will need to install TeX Live 2009 directly.
> (See a previous email for an introduction on doing this.)
>
> If you only wish to compile the primary American English version, you
> may continue to do so without having to upgrade to TeX Live 2009
> (though you will have to install the texlive-xetex Ubuntu package to
> make everything happy).
>
> I'm currently compiling each language's version of the manual and
> working with the translators to fill in a few holes in the polyglossia
> language coverage.  I've emailed some translators for help in filling
> in this holes.
>
> My next step is to find nice typefaces for each of the languages we're
> supporting.  This hinges in part on working with the design team to
> develop a tone and style of design for the manual so that it remains
> consistent across all the languages.
>
> After getting the typefaces lined up, I'll revisit the interior
> design, clean it up and make it consist with the design direction
> decided upon by the design team.
>
> tl;dr: I've been working on compiling the translations. If you want to
> compile the translations, you need to install TeX Live 2009. Next I'll
> be getting typefaces for each language.  Then, working with the design
> team, I'll clean up the whole design of the manual.
>
> As always, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or
> criticisms, feel free to email me at <godbyk@xxxxxxxxx> or contact me
> on IRC in #ubuntu-manual (godbyk).
>
> Thanks!
>
> --Kevin
>
> P.S. I've posted a few of the translated manuals online at
> http://kevin.godby.org/private/ubuntu-manual/ if you want to take a
> look.
>



-- 
Benjamin Humphrey

Ubuntu Manual Project Leader
Dunedin, New Zealand

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-manual
www.interesting.co.nz