Re: QaMoose

[Nadim Shaikli <shaikli at yahoo dot com>]

--- Waseem Bakr <bakr at MIT dot EDU> wrote:
>
> - I tried entering a few terms like 'dialog box' and 'arguments' which had 
> come up earlier on the doc mailing list. I found that they had already been 
> entered, but not approved. If this approval process takes that long, I 
> think you should find a substitute to it. I know that you are using it to 
> make sure that only good definitions go in the dictionary, but it's slowing 
> down the process of incorporating new terms. If I'm going to be responsible 
> for the dictionary, I think you should at least give me administrative 
> permissions to write to the dictionary without approval :-)

Sounds like you haven't applied for an account (under the 'admin' page).
Please do so, once the account is granted (as soon as Mr. Elzubeir gets
wind of this :-) you will be able to enter terms in 'pre-approved' fashion
(meaning that are immediately available).  One step ahead of ya :-)

> - I only entered one term (stylesheet) into the dictionary. I entered it 
> from Windows since Konqueror doesn't support Arabic yet. Therefore, it is 
> highly unlikely that it was encoded in UTF-8. Could you please check 
> whether it was encoded correctly or not. If it wasn't encoded correctly, 
> please suggest a method for entering Arabic translations into the dictionary.

That's on my list of things to do (Note, the TODO file under cvsweb)

> - I've noticed that arabized letters like 3 and 7 are used in the 
> dictionary. I'm going to use them, but I suggest including a page on the 
> website explaining what these letters are if anybody doesn't know them (in 
> fact, I don't think I don't know all of them... I am aware of the 
> following: 2, 3, 7, 6, 3', and have heard of a 5 for kh, but sometimes see 
> it as 7', and that's all I know. If there are more letters, please send 
> them to me) I'm willing to write the page for the letter definitions once I 
> get a complete list. Since these letters are going to be used most likely 
> by people who cannot view Arabic text in their browsers, I want to use 
> graphics for the Arabic letters.

I'd stay away from using numbers, the idea was to sound words out for those
on NON-Arabic enabled browsers (older Netscape, Opera, etc).

> - What is the description box for? In some places I've seen it used as a 
> translation aid (e.g. window was translated as nafidhah and shubbak, and 
> then in the description box it said these are synonyms) and in other places 
> it is used simply as an English definition of the term. What was it's 
> intended use?

Its to note intention of usage (like for menu's, error messages, etc) or
context as well as a place to note a brief description of the term and
any associated notes.  I know there is no consistency, but thats yet another
thing someone ought to spend some time on and refine (and solidify some
rules for).  As admin all those things can be modified, sound fun ??

[search question skipped]

> - Is the version of QaMoose used on the website the most up-to-date version 
> you've written?

Unfortunately its not - not yet at least.  Mr. Elzubeir is waiting for me
to release 1.3 :-)  Hopefully in a week or so (time be a'ticking :-)

> - You mention bulk transfer of terms. How is that done?

Then is only done if/when you are an admin (we'll talk later about this).
 
> - If QaMoose grows to include thousands of terms, it might be an idea to 
> include it in the Arabic version of KDE as a "Dictionary for Computer 
> Terms". This might be useful if we do not translate the documentation 
> files, for example, and users of arabized KDE might want to know what 
> English terms in the dictionary correspond to in our arabized interface. 
> You needn't consider that seriously... just a thought since externalizing 
> the QaMoose project might make up for the efforts we spend in updating it.

We've had a number of thoughts along similar lines and others
('dict protocol' (rfc2229)).  The point though is to keep on populating
it and to establish a level of consistency within it; its a very versatile
tool that could build us a database that could be utilized in many other
places (we've also pondered if other established online dictionaries would
like to share their 'technical' data with us, but haven't had time to
pursue that).

For further detail and software issues, please post to 'developer'

 - Nadim


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