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Localizations for the promotion of XY
Posted: 27 Apr 2012 11:57
by Ludens
Many thanks to the author for the best file manager in the world at the moment!
As a fan I'm very upset by lack of popularity of the product in comparison with TC and DO. The reason for this is, in my opinion, the only one: the lack of localization of the product into the major languages.
It would be nice if the author has found a way to solve this problem
Re: Localizations for the promotion of XY
Posted: 27 Apr 2012 12:13
by admin
Well, thank you and welcome to the forum!
I agree that Localization would help, But I'm not convinced that it is that important. Especially with regard to the incredible effort it would take. Or actually will take (because it is on the road map, but not with the highest prio). I'm currently thinking about translating it to German (my own language). But even that would take many many boring months. I'm still mentally preparing for that ordeal. OTOH, I have lots of great ideas for improving the app... and that's so much more fun!
IMO, what I need much more than Localization is promotion. Viral promotion. Social networks. Reviews. Videos.
What's more, currently a major shift is happening as a large quantity of users is moving towards the telephone as their major toy. It still has to be seen how the user base for Windows/PCs develops in the next years. I guess it will become more professional and older. This would even lower the need for Localization IMO because these people tend to know English.
Re: Localizations for the promotion of XY
Posted: 27 Apr 2012 12:23
by admin
PS: Concerning the lack of popularity of the product in comparison with TC and DO, I think this has mainly historical reasons (cf. path dependence). A reputation has been build up when the internet was still a small and highly skilled place. Such a top dog reputation is durable unless the holders totally screw it which is not the case with TC and DO. But X2 and XY are taking over, slowly but steadily. TC is already moving to the telephone market, and DO is simply going down.
Re: Localizations for the promotion of XY
Posted: 27 Apr 2012 13:38
by DmFedorov
Hi don.
My theme!
admin wrote:I agree that Localization would help, But I'm not convinced that it is that important.
I think it is very and "That" important.
admin wrote:I'm currently thinking about translating it to German (my own language). But even that would take many many boring months.
Nobody make translation itself. There are hundreds of languages.
All that is necessary - a language file. English to English.
But this file should work in any encoding. Must be Unicode.
Re: Localizations for the promotion of XY
Posted: 27 Apr 2012 13:47
by Ludens
admin, thank you for the reply.
Yes, for me personally it would be nicer to see the wonderful new features, but not localization.
Nevertheless, I am convinced that you should attend the localization right now. Fortunately, I'm sure that there are enough fans willing to do the technical work on localization in almost any language. You should only give them the appropriate tools.
Re: Localizations for the promotion of XY
Posted: 27 Apr 2012 14:17
by acheton
admin wrote:I agree that Localization would help, But I'm not convinced that it is that important. Especially with regard to the incredible effort it would take. Or actually will take (because it is on the road map, but not with the highest prio). I'm currently thinking about translating it to German (my own language). But even that would take many many boring months. I'm still mentally preparing for that ordeal. OTOH, I have lots of great ideas for improving the app... and that's so much more fun!
The impression I got from this thread:
http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7616 was that Multi-lingual support was being implemented as the first priority but I think you are saying now that this is no longer the case. Is that correct?
Re: Localizations for the promotion of XY
Posted: 27 Apr 2012 15:18
by DmFedorov
I have not seen this thread. It was good decision.
Re: Localizations for the promotion of XY
Posted: 27 Apr 2012 15:23
by admin
acheton wrote:admin wrote:I agree that Localization would help, But I'm not convinced that it is that important. Especially with regard to the incredible effort it would take. Or actually will take (because it is on the road map, but not with the highest prio). I'm currently thinking about translating it to German (my own language). But even that would take many many boring months. I'm still mentally preparing for that ordeal. OTOH, I have lots of great ideas for improving the app... and that's so much more fun!
The impression I got from this thread:
http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7616 was that Multi-lingual support was being implemented as the first priority but I think you are saying now that this is no longer the case. Is that correct?
My last position in that thread stands: I will start with German. I'm still evaluating the effort this will take.
Re: Localizations for the promotion of XY
Posted: 27 Apr 2012 15:26
by admin
DmFedorov wrote:admin wrote:I'm currently thinking about translating it to German (my own language). But even that would take many many boring months.
Nobody make translation itself. There are hundreds of languages.
All that is necessary - a language file. English to English.
But this file should work in any encoding. Must be Unicode.
Sure, I was not talking about the translation proper (this would only take some days). The opening/softening the app towards localization would take that long.
Re: Localizations for the promotion of XY
Posted: 04 May 2012 12:32
by admin
admin wrote:PS: Concerning the lack of popularity of the product in comparison with TC and DO, I think this has mainly historical reasons (cf. path dependence). A reputation has been build up when the internet was still a small and highly skilled place. Such a top dog reputation is durable unless the holders totally screw it which is not the case with TC and DO. But X2 and XY are taking over, slowly but steadily. TC is already moving to the telephone market, and DO is simply going down.
BTW, PCWorld Hungary (the print magazin) is featuring XYplorer this month, and the review article is headlined "Élet a Total Commander után" (= Life After Total Commander).

Re: Localizations for the promotion of XY
Posted: 04 May 2012 17:08
by serendipity
admin wrote:admin wrote:PS: Concerning the lack of popularity of the product in comparison with TC and DO, I think this has mainly historical reasons (cf. path dependence). A reputation has been build up when the internet was still a small and highly skilled place. Such a top dog reputation is durable unless the holders totally screw it which is not the case with TC and DO. But X2 and XY are taking over, slowly but steadily. TC is already moving to the telephone market, and DO is simply going down.
BTW, PCWorld Hungary (the print magazin) is featuring XYplorer this month, and the review article is headlined "Élet a Total Commander után" (= Life After Total Commander).

AWESOME!!
Actually searching their online magazine i found XY was once mentioned in 2006, it was about v4.50. BTW, i found the cover picture for May:

- pc-world-cimlapok_screenshot_20120503103153_2_nfh.jpg (164.68 KiB) Viewed 5030 times
Source:
http://pcworld.hu/a-majusi-pc-world-ara ... 20503.html
Re: Localizations for the promotion of XY
Posted: 10 Jul 2012 15:51
by Karl M
Hi,
I'm new here and wanted to post this here in this thread:
Today I found XYplorer via a posting in
BitsDuJour here (watch for Lupke Brother's post).
Before I tested many MS Explorer alternatives like
Xplorer2, Directory Opus, Ac Browser, Expicula, Listary Pro but I never stumbled over
XYplorer.
And it was a really big surprise for me that XYplorer despite the fact that it is a German programmer it has no German language. First I simply couldn't believe it and searched for a while for the language setup.
... but made an error and posted it
somewhere else.
Re: Localizations for the promotion of XY
Posted: 09 Aug 2012 12:00
by admin
Well, apart from programming I have a couple of other things I enjoy in life, and although I'm German (and my German is pretty okay) I never found the time to care for a translation of XY. Maybe it's because the English version sells well enough so the pressure is just not high enough for this sort of boring non-creative activity. shrug.
Re: Localizations for the promotion of XY
Posted: 09 Aug 2012 13:28
by Karl M
admin wrote:Maybe it's because the English version sells well enough ...
Gut für dich - hoffen wir, dass es immer so bleibt.
admin wrote: ... this sort of boring non-creative activity.
Warum nicht auslagern an freiwillige Helfer?
Ich selbst habe z.B. schon deutsche Sprachdateien als "Contribution" erstellt, z.B.
hier. Und ab heute beginnt das selbe
hier.
Re: Localizations for the promotion of XY
Posted: 10 Aug 2012 08:03
by admin
The problem is not the translation itself (which I indeed would leave to others -- although I dislike that I cannot control the translation quality). The problem is "opening" XY for language files. XY is much bigger than the average software (sure it has only 5 MB but that's because it is tightly written), there are thousands of places in the code that would have to be manually adjusted.