Congratulations on completing the initial setup! As a reward for your efforts, you get to move on to the very reason you've come here: to localize Mozilla projects.
This is where the technical aspect of the process begins to divide. At Mozilla, we localize many different projects that can be categorized into three different groups. Each group of projects employs a different type of l10n tool for, you guessed it, localizing the projects. The l10n tools are meant to help you maintain your localized content from release to release and leverage already localized materials when localizing new content.
Here we'll identify those groups of projects and the l10n tools associated with them. Along the way we'll point you to basic, technical tutorials on localizing for that particular project group. It's up to you and your community to determine which l10n tool will best suit your needs. As you gain more experience, you may want to localize independent of Mozilla-developed l10n tools, which we'll also discuss here.
Projects
The Mozilla projects and their l10n workflows are divided into these groups: Mozilla applications, Mozilla websites, and Add-ons. Below you'll find the list of all Mozilla projects, their associated l10n tools, and links to tutorials outlining their workflows.
Mozilla applications
So you're interested in localizing Mozilla applications. Each l10n tool follows a different workflow for localizing Mozilla application projects. We've linked a brief tutorial to each l10n tool name below. Follow the tutorials to help you decide which l10n tool fits your specific needs.
These are the l10n tools we use to localize Mozilla applications:
- Pootle
- A user-friendly web portal built on the Translate Toolkit API. This tool includes workspaces for translating strings, reviewing string submissions, and project dashboards. See the instance of Pootle used to localize Mozilla applications.
- Koala
- A l10n add-on for the offline, stand-alone Komodo Edit text editor.
- Mozilla Translator
- Am offline, stand-alone, Java-based l10n tool that helps you translate and integrates with your repositories. Visit the Mozilla Translator (MT) download page to get your own MT client. Version 5.26 is the latest version.
- Virtaal
- An offline, stand-alone version of Pootle that is also built on the Translate Toolkit API.
These are the Mozilla application projects that are localized using the l10n tools above:
- Firefox
- The award-winning Firefox® Web browser has security, speed and new features that will change the way you use the Web. See the list of the most critical strings for localizing in Firefox, as well as a guide to understanding how they're organized.
- Thunderbird
- Enjoy safe, fast and easy email, Mozilla-style. The Thunderbird® email client includes intelligent spam filters, powerful search and customizable views.
- Seamonkey
- SeaMonkey® is the all-in-one application formerly known as the "Mozilla Application Suite", containing a web browser, a mail and newsgroups client, an HTML editor, web development tools, and an IRC chat client.
- Firefox Mobile
- By adding Firefox® to your mobile phone, you can access rich Web content and enjoy your favorite Firefox features wherever you go.
- Lightning
- Lightning is a popular calendaring, scheduling and task management extension.
If your locale has an hg repository hosted on the Mozilla servers, you can track your localization's current progress by visiting the l10n dashboards.
Note: If you are starting a new localization and decide to use an offline tool for localizing Mozilla applications, you will need to become familiar with using Mercurial (hg). Visit the tutorial on using hg in your localization efforts here.
Mozilla websites
So you're interested in localizing Mozilla websites. Each l10n tool follows a different workflow for localizing Mozilla web projects. We've linked a brief tutorial to each l10n tool name below. Follow the tutorials to help you decide which l10n tool fits your specific needs.
These are the l10n tools we use to localize Mozilla web projects:
- Pontoon
- A web-based, What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) l10n tool that allows you to localize Mozilla websites within the site itself. Visit Pontoon here. Please note the Pontoon is not available for all web projects yet.
These are the Mozilla web projects that are localized using the l10n tools above:
- mozilla.org
- Every user's first Mozilla experience.
- addons.mozilla.org (AMO)
- A portal for all users interested in finding add-ons for their local Mozilla applications. Read the guidelines on localizing AMO, straight from the AMO team.
- developer.mozilla.org (MDN)
- Where you are now! Help localize the MDN user interface for everyone in your region.
- support.mozilla.com (SUMO)
- A portal for anyone who needs technical support for their Mozilla applications. Help localize the SUMO user interface for everyone in your region.
- Mozilla Engagement Campaigns
- Individual campaigns created by Mozilla to attract new contributors.
- hacks.mozilla.org
- For everyone interested in the leading-edge stuff that people are doing with Mozilla Firefox and the open web.
- In-product pages
- A set of pages used to interact with and give information to the end-user as part of their first experience with their Mozilla applications.
If you are creating your own localization, there are a number of Mozilla websites that need to be localized before your efforts become an officially released localization. See the list of localized Mozilla websites.
You should also read more information on localizing Mozilla web projects.
Add-ons
l10n for add-ons is handled by at least two other organizations/services called Babelzilla and Adofex. They both have created comprehensive programs and l10n tools for localizing any and all third-party add-ons for Mozilla applications. Visit their websites to learn how to get involved.
Tool-independent localization
Are you a command-line master? Do you prefer Unicode text editors to any other applications on Earth? Do you have a pet CAT (computer-assisted translation) tool, like OmegaT? Then you may not be interested in using any of the tools listed above for your localizations. If that is the case, then this section is for you!
For localizers who prefer localizing without a specialized tool the workflows for localizing Mozilla applications and Mozilla websites are essentially the same. This tutorial should provide you with all of the technical information you need to secure and maintain your tool independence.
Productization
Productization is an essential part of localizing Mozilla products. This is where you research and select the search plugins, content and protocol handlers, bookmarks, and links to recommended sites on the in-product pages that your locale's users will find in their Mozilla products.
This tutorial will walk you through performing these productization tasks, creating productization patches, and submitting them for review.