[cjakeman]

Hi guys,

I wonder how many of us know that the Open Rails manual which is distributed as a PDF with every installation (and can also be downloaded from the website) is also available as a smartly formatted set of webpages?

The hosting for this (and many other free manuals) is provided by ReadTheDocs.org They write "We will host your documentation for free forever. There are no tricks. We help tens of thousands of open source projects share their docs."

Our pages are hosted here and are automatically kept up to date by the weekly build (thanks James).

How about adding some icons to the Menu > Options > General form so that users wondering about which options to set can quickly find out more? I've added a coupe of "info" icons as an experiment and clicking on them takes you to the relevant section of the manual - e.g. Dispatcher Window





Is it worth adding these icons for all of the tabs in the Menu > Options?

[Aldarion]

Can those pages have a translated version?

[R H Steele]

WELL...this is something I did not know about, thanks Chris! I think having linking icons to the manual is a brilliant whizBANG of a idea. I wish more people would get used to the manual as a first source of information about OR. I cannot express how wonderful it is to have a manual like this. I know it does seem extremely daunting to new users to think they have to read the whole manual before they can get to running the simulator...so having some icons that provide quick information about a specific topic not only introduces the manual but helps ease the learning curve into the simulator. Wonderful idea!

[cjakeman]

Aldarion, on 27 February 2021 - 09:49 AM, said:

Can those pages have a translated version?

Yes, they can. We have experimented with a Spanish version but I had a few problems in building it automatically so, at the moment, it's only available from the Open Rails Menu > Documents and then only if you select Spanish as your language.

That's something I hope to fix though.

Do you know anyone willing to translate into Portuguese? (Bear in mind that it's a large initial task and then there are regular small updates as changes are made. The arrangements for indicating which bits need attention are quite slick though.)

[markus_GE]

This sounds (and looks) like a great idea, Chris!

I do not happen to know anybody who could do a Portuguese translation, but I know of a group of people who are managing a translation to German. They already have a good portion of the manual done, which would aid in getting "up to speed". I could drop them a line, if you wish.
Cheers, Markus

[eugenR]

markus_GE, on 27 February 2021 - 01:03 PM, said:

This sounds (and looks) like a great idea, Chris!

I do not happen to know anybody who could do a Portuguese translation, but I know of a group of people who are managing a translation to German. They already have a good portion of the manual done, which would aid in getting "up to speed". I could drop them a line, if you wish.
Cheers, Markus

The problem with translations is to synchronize modifications in the English version with the other german-Translation, every time if the English version has changed. So we change the German version only with new mainrelease (1.2, 1.3, 1.3.1 ) for that we compare the corresponding *.rst Files in Github to find the modified parts.

We have decide, only to translate until Chapter 14. The higher Chapters are more for insiders of OR, where we think there are able to read the English manual for this not translated chapters. This user should also be able to follow the forum in ElvasTower, what is also written in English.

Perhaps we should try once the translation of internet-pages by Google?

PS:
I have tried a bit with google Translation,
perhaps it would be easier if the autors use for the so linked chapters a simple and clear English. So the google translator wouldn't have problems to translate this.
I have found this:
This is useful in organizing train meets and takeovers,
Google translation:
Dies ist nützlich bei der Organisation von Zugversammlungen und Übernahmen,

übernehmen means in German takeover a Compagnie!!
If the Autor would use the word Overhoul the text would translated correct!

EugenR

[Aldarion]

R H Steele, on 27 February 2021 - 09:55 AM, said:

WELL...this is something I did not know about, thanks Chris! I think having linking icons to the manual is a brilliant whizBANG of a idea. I wish more people would get used to the manual as a first source of information about OR. I cannot express how wonderful it is to have a manual like this. I know it does seem extremely daunting to new users to think they have to read the whole manual before they can get to running the simulator...so having some icons that provide quick information about a specific topic not only introduces the manual but helps ease the learning curve into the simulator. Wonderful idea!

cjakeman, on 27 February 2021 - 11:17 AM, said:

Yes, they can. We have experimented with a Spanish version but I had a few problems in building it automatically so, at the moment, it's only available from the Open Rails Menu > Documents and then only if you select Spanish as your language.

That's something I hope to fix though.

Do you know anyone willing to translate into Portuguese? (Bear in mind that it's a large initial task and then there are regular small updates as changes are made. The arrangements for indicating which bits need attention are quite slick though.)

I would be willing to translate into portuguese. Done that with the Menu.exe interface.

What eugenR says is very true, however. Even if one translates the entire content (and that is a big effort), another effort is to try and translate every time something is changed.

About the translation of internet-pages by Google, what comes to my ind is the following: automatic translation of the entire contents, and after that an edit made by a person to fine tune the translation, probably on technical terms and explanations, in a sort of wiki-way!
Because it would be coherent, having the menu interface in one of the many languages it is translated, but then the content on the help provided by the links in a different language, except for antive english speakers , of course :D

I hope I am being clear about it.

[eugenR]

Hi,
Good idea,
but if I load down the "latest release", from here:
https://open-rails.r...s.io/en/latest/
I get one from 22.9.2020,
Are this releases not automatically updated?

Regards
EugenR

[cjakeman]

Hi Eugen,

eugenR, on 28 February 2021 - 07:45 AM, said:

Good idea,
but if I load down the "latest release", from here:
https://open-rails.r...s.io/en/latest/
I get one from 22.9.2020,
Are this releases not automatically updated?

They were, but it seems that the update is broken. Well spotted.

I've sent James Ross a message and we'll see what can be done to repir the automatic updating.

[markus_GE]

eugenR, on 27 February 2021 - 01:48 PM, said:

We have decide, only to translate until Chapter 14. The higher Chapters are more for insiders of OR, where we think there are able to read the English manual for this not translated chapters. This user should also be able to follow the forum in ElvasTower, what is also written in English.

Seems like I no longer need to drop that line. ;)

I was no longer aware you were part of this effort, Eugen http://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/sign_sorry.gif

eugenR, on 27 February 2021 - 01:48 PM, said:

Perhaps we should try once the translation of internet-pages by Google?

As you've shown in your PS, you'd definitely need to do post-editing by hand to make it work. One will never be able to write the English original in way that will make any translator output good translations in any language, though.

You could still only update it every major release even when using the standard ORTS tooling, though (in fact, that's sort-of what I'm doing with the in-game translation, too).

Cheers, Markus