Localization guidelines (Bookshelf)

Please help to adapt, translate, remix, and reuse the materials in the RMoutreach bookshelf to help us spread the word about our projects. :-)

All resources are available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

We make resources available in formats that can be edited using free and open source software. This means you can get all the tools you need to get started for free.

Please note that no-one expects the localized versions to be 100% faithful to the source material. You may need to adapt the language, or even shift order of sections, to give it more sense in your culture. When you do major alterations, try to make notes of them on the talk page of the material, for instance "changed order of pages 2 and 3 and removed some of [X], since the [Y] language version of RMwiki has no such features." These changes can also inspire changes in the English version.

Step 1: Download and setup the software
You can download the Scribus software at: http://www.scribus.net/. Thoroughly read the setup instructions for your platform. Setup generally takes several steps and utilizes several software packages.

The documents below have been created using Scribus 1.5.3. Opening these files in versions earlier than 1.4.6 will not work: you have to choose one of the developmental versions on the download page and not the current release version.

Users of Ubuntu Linux 10.04 can install the  package from the official Ubuntu repositories. On Windows versions 1.4.6 and 1.5 have been tested and are compatible with these files, while on OS X version 1.5.2 is reported to work.

Scribus is desktop publishing software, which is very different from word processing software. At minimum, we recommend that you consult the "Get Started with Scribus" wiki manual.

You may also find it helpful to have additional software packages if you plan to edit with any of the placed supporting files from the layouts.

GIMP &mdash; For bitmap editing -- http://www.gimp.org/

Inkscape &mdash; For vector graphics -- http://www.inkscape.org/

Step 2: Download the document package(s)
Document packages are required to create the pieces you'd like to make. All files associated with a piece and required for production are contained within the “zip” archive.


 * As localized versions are produced it is recommended that they should be packaged in a similar way to the English masters and uploaded/linked to from this site. That way a growing archive of materials can be made available here for all to use.

Translation technique
Option 1: The translator installs the Scribus software, and downloads the materials for a piece. Taking this they simply make any translation "in-line" using the Scribus "story editor" built into the software. Please note that the text layer must be active in order for text frames to be editable (Windows|Layers). Scribus doesn't have in-built proofreading tools, so be careful and make sure to re-read your text for typos and spelling errors.