Multi Language support for module lists etc.

Even though English in not a problem for me, I understand the importance and need to offer a website in other languages, so I really like that the new design have that in mind. Particularly as it also means that the internationalisation support for Drupal is moving up a few notches in priority.

Before I go into the main topic of this post, a little note about the placement of the language select. In the mockup (iteration 11), the select language listbox is placed at the bottom. I think it should actually be placed in the header instead as that will make it much easier to find. Especially those, who's English is not very good tend to leave if they don't find a language quickly without having to scroll to the bottom of a very long page. They could also be shown as flags.

Oki, back to topic. I have one site I am using the Internationalization modules in and it works just fine. The only real issue though is that browsing modules and other add-on stuff and finding information on what languages they are available in is not very easy. In most cases I have to actually download the module and check if it supports translations and if so if it is available in the language(s) I need.

So it got me thinking a bit about how this can be improved on drupal.org and I came up with the following. I will use modules as example, but I believe similar features can be applied on other areas as well, such as themes.

Translation categories for modules

For each project/[module name] it should be possible to set that it supports translations or not. It should also be possible to set what translations that is available.

When searching for a particular module it should be possible to filter on both options, just as I can filter on Drupal version the module is available for.

Even better would be if the search result is tabbed. Then I could get three tabs:

• Tab 1 - Modules that fit my search and filters perfect, i.e. they match the search words, supports translations and are available in the language I need them in.
• Tab 2 - Same as Tab 1 but is not available in the language I need
• Tab 3 - Does not support translations at all

I believe the above will make it very quick and intuitive to find what I am looking for.

In some cases translations is only available for the UI, but not for help and documentation. This this should be shown when looking at the project page.

Request translation

For each project page there should also be a button "Request Translation". When I click on it I will simply be able to select the language I would like this module translated into. I think this will give very good feedback about how many users there are that would like a module in a particular language.

Offer to translate

There should also be an option to offer to translate it. Selecting this option will give you the above list, but also any other possible language.

When offering to translate I will also be able to select if I will translate the UI, help files and/or documentation.

How to manage translations

If the above was to be implemented there is one issue. How will the translations be managed on d.o?

As it is now, available translations are in the module archive. Thus, any new translation will either have to be stored on d.o somewhere else or the archive has to be redone adding the new translation. That would be the shortcut for adding my idea.

I would rather like to see that modules, that support translation, only contain the default Drupal language (is that US or UK English btw?). All other languages are managed by d.o per available version.

A few benefits I see with this is:

• The whole translations process can be automated on d.o without involving the module maintainers.
• It will require very limited skills, besides the language to translate to. Thus many more users will be able to help translating.
• In my Drupal installation I will have a a new report similar to Available Updates, but for translations. When selecting it I will get a list of all enabled modules, including core, that does not have a translation, have incomplete translation and where a new translation is available for the version I have installed.
• From that list I should be able to select, download and install individual translation automatically.

I believe that if we where to implement this, it would really improve the internationalisation support in Drupal, plus making managing and installing languages as easy as clicking a button.