"Translating" pictures

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Vladimir Horsky
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Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2013 6:21 pm

"Translating" pictures

Unread post by Vladimir Horsky »

Hi
I'm working on a translation of the project. I haven't found information how to "translate" images (in my case screenshots).
Is there any recommended procedure?

Should a screenshot in a new language replace the original file with the same (original) name (i.e. replace the original English image "Screenshot_123.png" with a new German image with the same file name)?
Or is it better to create a file with a new name (e.g. "Screenshot_123_DE.png") and possibly delete the original image (when I don't need it in the translated project anymore)?
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Tim Green
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Re: "Translating" pictures

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Vladimir,

Always use the same names for everything in projects you are translating. That helps to keep everything clear. The image files should ideally be in subfolders in the project folder of each version. Then you can move the entire project around without having to change the project path settings (the references internally are relative, not absolute), and the translators can also see the images, which helps them with their work. After all, if your users need the images to understand the text, then the translators definitely do too.

See this topic in the documentation to learn how to manage your images and consolidate them into a simple set of folders inside the project folder:

https://www.helpandmanual.com/help/hm_w ... aging.html
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Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Vladimir Horsky
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Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2013 6:21 pm

Re: "Translating" pictures

Unread post by Vladimir Horsky »

I believe that the Sync Tool is not well designed. Or I misunderstood the principle of translations and synchronization.

To begin with, the Sync Tool does not care about synchronizing image files at all. It doesn't copy them, it doesn't sync them, it leaves them as they are.

Tim recommends that the names of the images remain the same. However, if they are located in the same directory as the original images, changing them (by saving a screenshot in the local language) will change the images in the original manual (in the original language).
So there is an option to create a subdirectory with the images in the sync directory and copy the images into it (as recommended by Tim with the same names). But this is not a good practice, because if any of the original images are changed, then in the synchronized (localized) project I will still see either only the already "translated" images (when the set path to the images will lead to the localized subdirectory) or only the "original untranslated" images (when the set path to the images in the project will lead to the original image directory). Neither is what I would expect - I would like to see the original image (in the section labeled "OLD TEXT") and the new image next to the new text.

In addition, there's the problem of how to synchronize images with the same names in two different directories (when I, as translator, change them in the second directory, and at the same time the author changes them in the original directory). And I can't just copy files from the original image directory to the translation image directory. That would delete all my translated images.

So currently, I find it most convenient to save the original image (e.g. "orig_picture.png") under a local name (e.g. "orig_picture_CZ.png") in a separate (dedicated to my translation) directory when I "translate" it.
This file does not change the original images in the original directory, the author of the original manual does not have to worry about synchronizing the image directories (he just copies/sends the original directory with the updated images), and when I translate, I will see the new image (from the original original directory) in the new text and my previously translated image from my directory designated for translated images in the old text.

Only H&M could help me a bit more: when I select the image I want to replace and use CTRL+V to insert a new "translated" screenshot, H&M offers me "Choose another file name" and then offers me the new file name "clip0001.png". In this case (where I have selected the image that I want to change) it might offer me the original image name, which I would then change (with only adding the localization extension "_CZ").
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Tim Green
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Re: "Translating" pictures

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Vladimir,

I understand your concerns, but it just isn't the way it works. If you try to do it in a different way, that is up to you, but you will have problems. :?
Tim recommends that the names of the images remain the same. However, if they are located in the same directory as the original images, changing them (by saving a screenshot in the local language) will change the images in the original manual (in the original language).
Again: The images should not be in a folder outside the project, particularly not when you are translating the project (but it's just as bad in any other case as well). All the assets used in the project should be IN the project, in sub-folders of the project folder. This applies in particular for your images. It's very easy to do this: You just need to copy all the images in to one or more folders in the project folder (never more than 4-5!) and then change the project search path settings in Configuration > Common Properties > Project Search Path.

When all the images are in the project folder you can move the project around without changing any settings (the internal links are all relative). If they are somewhere else, you lose the references to the images when you move the project (for example to send it to the translator, who then can't see the images). And then you don't have problems with translating images, because you have a clean copy of every image in every language version.
But this is not a good practice, because if any of the original images are changed, then in the synchronized (localized) project I will still see either only the already "translated" images
I can understand this argument, but the problems will be the same outside the project folder, and there is no reliable way that Help+Manual could monitor them in the way you describe. Some people have projects with hundreds of image folders in as many different locations. And you still lose all the benefits of having the images in the project folder.

Bottom line: The project synchronizer is only designed for small, simple projects and can only identify changes on the basis of timestamps and filenames. For anything more complicated you should be using translation memory tools like SDL Trados, which can work directly in uncompressed Help+Manual projects.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Vladimir Horsky
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Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2013 6:21 pm

Re: "Translating" pictures

Unread post by Vladimir Horsky »

Hi Tim

You keep trying to push the idea that I want to use an external directory. But it's not me, it's the Sync Tool, which does not create a copy of the image directory when creating the language version, and thus refers to the original (external) directory.

I don't care where the images are located. I just want to make the translation of the manuals as convenient as possible, which can then be updated.

So what I wanted to advise at the beginning, what is the best procedure for translations, I had to try and deduce myself anyway.
On the link is the procedure I chose https://www.qia.cz/soubory/Pictures_translation.pdf (as there is impossible to attach more than 3 files and these can be only pictures).
And if you see that it could be better somewhere, write specific comments.

Best regards
Vladimir
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Tim Green
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Re: "Translating" pictures

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Vladimir,

That is correct that the project synchronizer in Help+Manual doesn't copy assets in the project folder. As I mentioned, it is designed to be basic and does not do things like analyze whether your assets are stored in the project folder or not. However, it is fine to copy your asset folders -- generally images -- to the sibling and we recommend doing it like that.

In contrast, the Help+Manual Translation Assistant we just released can optionally also copy asset folders inside the project folder, and also offers bulk machine translation for the entire project, 3-pane side-by-side comparison of original, updated original and translation and a WYSIWYG editor in all three panes.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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