Drupal 8 Multilingual Initiative meeting on May 29th, 2013
We are just back from a fantastic and extensive sprint at DrupalCon Portland! We got multilingual node properties in core now, have been improving the config translation module proposed for core in terms of usability and accessibility; and found important core bugs on the way. We also made menus use bundles which will enable us to add easy to use language settings on them shortly.
These are amazing things, and we have a lot to be proud of that we are here, however, we still want to build more on these patches. We still need all hands available to finish multilingual properties for other entity types in core, improve accessibility, fix core bugs and get the configuration translation user interface in. We should also think about the missing Drupal 8 related features on localize.drupal.org at this point.
We have tasks for all kinds of interests on all kinds of difficulty levels. All help is welcome! We are moving back to a weekly meeting schedule for the remaining 5 weeks, starting from today, so we can reevaluate our standing and focus our efforts best. Our last meeting will be in Dublin and attempt to join in everyone remotely over IRC at a minimum for the meeting time.
This IRC meeting is in the #drupal-i18n channel on IRC. See http://drupal.org/irc for more information. The time above is marked with UTC - check in your own timezone.
Meetings are now every week at the same time on Wednesdays. Check out http://www.drupal8multilingual.org/events for the calendar of upcoming meetings.
Read moreDrupal 8 Multilingual Initiative meeting on May 8th, 2013
Recently, we got locale integrated with the schema system, which is a huge win for us. Now people can translate shipped configuration (but not yet custom configuration). We also made strides in converting the config translation module proposed for core to latest routing and form standards. We need reviewers on that issue and support to get into core! We also recently got transliteration for machine names into core! The first UI exposure of transliterations!
Now we need people to help review making node properties multilingual, so you can translate titles, and maintain publication status/authors per language. We are also working to make menus multilingual in https://drupal.org/node/1966298 and https://drupal.org/node/1945226.
These are amazing things, and we have a lot to be proud of that we are here, however, we still want to build more on these patches. Migration paths, tools for localize.drupal.org, more transliteration integrations, and so on. So we are not close to done yet. We have tasks for all kinds of interests on all kinds of difficulty levels. All help is welcome!
This IRC meeting is in the #drupal-i18n channel on IRC. See http://drupal.org/irc for more information. The time above is marked with UTC - check in your own timezone.
See you all there! This is the last meeting before DrupalCon Portland's huge onsite sprint!
Meetings are every other week at the same time on Wednesdays. Check out http://www.drupal8multilingual.org/events for the calendar of upcoming meetings.
Read moreDrupal 8 Multilingual Initiative meeting on April 24th, 2013
We are working on some truly exciting things recently!
- Integrating the configuration system with community translation, so shipped configuration can be translated,
- making node properties multilingual, so you can translate titles, and maintain publication status/authors per language, as well as
- finally making good use of transliteration in core and
- providing an easy user interface for configuration translation (in contrib for now).
These are amazing things, and we have a lot to be proud of that we are here, however, we still want to build more on these patches. Migration paths, tools for localize.drupal.org, more transliteration integrations, and so on. So we are not close to done yet. We have tasks for all kinds of interests on all kinds of difficulty levels. All help is welcome!
This IRC meeting is in the #drupal-i18n channel on IRC. See http://drupal.org/irc for more information. The time above is marked with UTC - check in your own timezone.
See you all there! There is only one more meeting before DrupalCon Portland's huge onsite sprint.
Meetings are every other week at the same time on Wednesdays. Check out http://www.drupal8multilingual.org/events for the calendar of upcoming meetings.
Read moreDrupal 8 Multilingual Initiative meeting on April 10th, 2013
We are working on some truly exciting things recently!
- Integrating the configuration system with community translation, so shipped configuration can be translated,
- making node properties multilingual, so you can translate titles, and maintain publication status/authors per language, as well as
- finally making good use of transliteration in core and
- providing an easy user interface for configuration translation (in contrib for now).
These are amazing things, and we have a lot to be proud of that we are here, however, we still want to build more on these patches. Migration paths, tools for localize.drupal.org, more transliteration integrations, and so on. So we are not close to done yet. We have tasks for all kinds of interests on all kinds of difficulty levels. All help is welcome!
This IRC meeting is in the #drupal-i18n channel on IRC. See http://drupal.org/irc for more information. The time above is marked with UTC - check in your own timezone.
See you all there!
Meetings are every other week at the same time on Wednesdays. Check out http://www.drupal8multilingual.org/events for the calendar of upcoming meetings.
Read moreDrupal 8 Multilingual Initiative meeting on March 27th, 2013
We are working on some truly exciting things recently!
- Integrating the configuration system with community translation, so shipped configuration can be translated,
- making node properties multilingual, so you can translate titles, and maintain publication status/authors per language, as well as
- finally making good use of transliteration in core and
- providing an easy user interface for configuration translation (in contrib for now).
These are amazing things, and we have a lot to be proud of that we are here, however, we still want to build more on these patches. Migration paths, tools for localize.drupal.org, more transliteration integrations, and so on. So we are not close to done yet. We have tasks for all kinds of interests on all kinds of difficulty levels. All help is welcome!
This IRC meeting is in the #drupal-i18n channel on IRC. See http://drupal.org/irc for more information. The time above is marked with UTC - check in your own timezone.
See you all there!
Meetings are every other week at the same time on Wednesdays. Check out http://www.drupal8multilingual.org/events for the calendar of upcoming meetings.
Read moreDrupal 8 Multilingual Initiative meeting on March 13th, 2013
This time Cathy (YesCT) Theys will lead the meeting to discuss ongoing issues in the multilingual initiative. Gábor is participating at a W3C event, and cannot attend. Be aware of timezone changes around your region as applicable!
We got some breakthroughs done recently. Nodes are now using the new entity field API (http://drupal.org/node/1818556) and we have a working implementation of a configuration translation user interface being explored at http://drupal.org/project/config_translation (as it stands now it will need to be a contributed module).
We need hands to help introduce, verify and fix configuration schemas and help test and continue the Entity API conversions as well as figure out node properties so titles and authors can become multilingual for example! We have tasks for all kinds of interests on all kinds of difficulty levels. All help is welcome!
This IRC meeting is in the #drupal-i18n channel on IRC. See http://drupal.org/irc for more information. The time above is marked with UTC - check in your own timezone.
See you all there!
Meetings are every other week at the same time on Wednesdays. Check out http://www.drupal8multilingual.org/events for the calendar of upcoming meetings.
Read moreDrupal 8 Multilingual Initiative meeting on February 27th, 2013
All right, now we are in feature freeze, but key features are not applied consistently across Drupal. This still makes it so you cannot translate even the built-in email texts or the titles of nodes. We need hands to help introduce, verify and fix configuration schemas and help test and continue the Entity API conversions! We have tasks for all kinds of interests on all kinds of difficulty levels. All help is welcome!
This IRC meeting is in the #drupal-i18n channel on IRC. See http://drupal.org/irc for more information. The time above is marked with UTC - check in your own timezone.
See you all there!
Meetings are every other week at the same time on Wednesdays. Check out http://www.drupal8multilingual.org/events for the calendar of upcoming meetings.
Read moreDrupal 8 is feature frozen but you cannot translate the site name or node titles
You did not read that wrong! Yes, Drupal 8 features are frozen, and the massive Drupal 8 Multilingual Initiative is not there to let you even translate a node title or the site name. We made massive amounts of progress with heroic efforts from key contributors, but we are not nearly close to be done yet. Yes, your help is needed! The way the Drupal core release cycle is set up, many things that you might consider features are not classified as such (verified with core maintainers) in the process. Feature freeze means all base features should be in core, however, many things that need to be integrated with these new features are not done yet. Otherwise what would we do for months on still, right? So let's look at the two use cases with this in mind. Start with the bad news!
Translate site name
The biggest feature that will still not be native in Drupal 8 is translation of user provided configuration. We still have lot to work on translating shipped configuration. We've worked hard for months to get a configuration schema system accepted so we can have a programatic understanding of the translatable pieces of configuration. We started work on that in 2012 June at Drupal Dev Days, and it took several forked issues, alternate proposals, personal, IRC and phone meetings to get a universal understanding that a configuration schema system is needed in the first place, with the actual implementation not too far from the original proposals, that landed in core. We would have loved to achieve this milestone sooner but that did not work out.
So the sad news is you will not be able to translate your site name or custom created Views with Drupal 8 core only. Drupal 8 core should be capable to translate shipped configuration though, that is email texts, image styles, default content types, default fields, etc. shipped with Drupal core. The text for these should eventually end up on http://localize.drupal.org for translation. You'll need to use a contributed module to translate user entered configuration though (such as user created Views and your site name). Good news is that the underlying schema system and the configuration override system in core (as well as the soon to be committed configuration context system) supports this use case too, so the missing piece is a user interface to be generated for configuration translation. A very early version of that user interface can be seen in http://drupal.org/sandbox/reyero/1635230.
So as of right now you cannot even translate the shipped email texts, but that is a feature targeted for Drupal 8 core (in combination with http://localize.drupal.org as usual for software translation). Translating configuration created on the user interface and not shipped with modules/themes/profiles will need a contributed module.
Translate node titles
All right, this is a flat out regression, right? Right! Drupal 8 trades node-copy translation that is native to Drupal 7 (using the Content translation module in Drupal 7), where translating a node creates a new copy of the node. In Drupal 8, the module named the same on the user interface (Content translation) works totally differently. It does not create new copies but stores translations in fields under the entity. This has several advantages. For one, it lets us support all kinds of entity types, for example, fields on users, taxonomy terms, comments, etc. We also provide a neat cross-entity configuration screen to set up all your entity types for language.
Yet, node titles remain non-translatable. The basic reason for that is that node titles are not "fields" on nodes, they are good old properties. Properties do not support multilingual storage natively. We introduced a multilingual property system earlier (for the entity_test entity type), and the integration to other entity types did not yet happen. Why? Well, the more sweeping next generation Entity API conversions are still widely underway. Comment entities are done (with performance regressions that are being worked out) and we are hard at work on nodes. There are still files, users, taxonomy terms, etc. ahead.
And then the multilinugal property conversions can happen on top of the new entity system much easier since that system has built-in support for them. That is still not a trivial task and we'll definitely need all hands possible to achieve.
(Side note: once node properties become multilingual, we also need to provide a migration path in core for the legacy content translation module and remove that module from core for good.)
How can I help?
The configuration schema system is easy! We have documentation at http://drupal.org/node/1905070 and a visual configuration browser that applies the schema at http://drupal.org/sandbox/reyero/1635230. There is a huge set of issues at http://www.drupal8multilingual.org/issues/schema to fill in the blanks of schemas where not yet provided or incorrectly written. Tips to help are in the meta issue at http://drupal.org/node/1910624#comment-7088154
The entity API conversions are more involved work. You can participate in the conversion issues at http://drupal.org/node/1818580 - however the process so far has been to attack one type at a time, and nodes are in focus righ now (http://drupal.org/node/1818556). Performance expertise, reroll experience and all kinds of other skills are needed here.
So how can you call Drupal 8 feature frozen? And when will it ever be ready?
Reality is features from the point of the development process are not necessarily the same as user's perceptions. While we wanted to get in solutions sooner (eg. targeted configuration schema and context for Dec 1st 2012), their declared belonging to a later development phase does not help to get reviewers and push them harder for inclusion. We are doing our best to not let this affect the eventual readiness of Drupal 8, but in the state we are in, we are not looking at an integration phase where we can sit back and relax.
The current planned deadline for the integration phase (when all entity properties should be multilingual and all configuration should have schemas) is July 1st 2013. There are three big sprints until then that we plan to use to boost our standing (please come and sign up for these):
- Drupal sprint weekend, March 9th and 10th all around the globe
- Sprints on the weekends both before and after DrupalCon Portland, May 18-19th and 24-26th
- Sprints all week before Drupal Dev Days Dublin, June 24-27th
Sitting around and waiting for later opportunities does not help, so jumping on these issues would be especially helpful. If you have no better idea, start reviewing the configuration schema issues today!
A huge thanks once again for all contributors
I'd like to reiterate once again that all the people on the multilingual intiative worked exceptionally hard (in some cases all the way to burning out) to make Drupal 8 as multilingual as possible for you all. The gaps in implementation are not at all due to people doing poor work, they are due to all the uncertainties involved in working on an Open Source project with set goals but heavy interdependencies and lack of resource commitments possible. As well as all the bliss and baggage of making large scale decisions in an open issue queue format.
See http://www.drupal8multilingual.org/team for more information on our team.
Read moreExtended sprints around DrupalCon Portland
DrupalCon Portland comes with the classic DrupalCon format that regulars know so well. A training/CXO day followed by three session/BoF/exhibition days followed by a sprint day.
While deeply involved core developers will work on any given day of DrupalCon, getting groups together at the same place is only possible on the sprint day and that quickly flies away. Based on prior experience organising extra sprint opportunities around DrupalCon Denver, Munich and BADCamp 2012, we are looking to have extended sprint opportunities this time as well!
Extended sprints are on the weekends both before and after DrupalCon. There are already various sprints signed up including Multilingual, Views, Mobile, Configuration management and Twig all to further development of Drupal 8 at various capacities on these weekends. Now is the time to consider if you can be available and book your travel and hotel accordingly!
Practical details
- Dates
- 18th (Sat), 19th (Sun), 20th (Mon) of May and the 25th (Sat) and 26th (Sun) of May 2013. (There is already a DrupalCon sprint day on the 24th at the DrupalCon venue as well).
- Times
- We start each day at 9am and plan to wind down sprinting at 7pm to go for food. Exact schedules depend on teams, hunger, etc.
- Locations
-
- Weekends before/after DrupalCon: 222 NW 5th Ave, Suite 300; Portland, OR 97209 walking distance from the DrupalCon venue. Acquia generously stepped up to provide this space with extra sponsorship for plus one room.
- Monday (DrupalCon training day): The DrupalCon venue, room E142.
- Session days (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday): DrupalCon provides sprinting space from Tuesday 8am to Thursday midnight at two different locations.
- Friday (DrupalCon official sprint day): DrupalCon provides sprinting space.
Sponsors
Acquia, bluehost, comm-press, dotProjects.be, drupalize.me, Open8.se, OSINet, PingV Inc.
Looking for sponsors
We are looking for more sponsors to cover expenses. If you are interested sponsoring or if you need sponsors to cover expenses, please contact me at http://drupal.org/user/4166/contact
Disclaimer
The Drupal Association and DrupalCon are not involved in the organisation of these extra sprint opportunities.
Read moreDrupal 8 Multilingual Initiative meeting on February 13th, 2013
This is our last meeting before the extended feature freeze deadline! Still plenty of important stuff to work on, so your participation and help is more than welcome. Come be involved, ask questions, keep moving! We have tasks for all kinds of interests on all kinds of difficulty levels. All help is welcome!
This IRC meeting is in the #drupal-i18n channel on IRC. See http://drupal.org/irc for more information. The time above is marked with UTC - check in your own timezone.
See you all there!
Meetings are every other week at the same time on Wednesdays. Check out http://www.drupal8multilingual.org/events for the calendar of upcoming meetings.
Read more