Firefox

Firefox is the web browser that was born our of the mozilla project. It is now their default target and is renowned for its security.

You should read this in conjunction with the mozilla pages as there are some things shared between Firefox and thunderbird localisation

this is a work in progress as we combine various bits of information. A lot of this duplicates the Mozilla wiki so we should point their instead.

• Building a Native Installer under Windows XP
• This provides instructions for the users of Mozilla Translator
• Step by step instructions for localising Firefox
• Firefox localisation home page on Mozilla wiki

Firefox like Mozilla is traditionally localised with Mozilla Translators. But for those who invest in in PO files and would rather spend time translating then learning another tool … here are the instructions for creating a Firefox localisation.

Generate PO files. There are links elsewhere for doing exactly that

{omgs: how to get po files from CVS from Firefox and Thunderbird 1.5 is in the new mozillacvs page}

• Packaging a localised Max OS X version

Note moz2po has advanced quite a bit and should cover most of your packaging requirements.

There are some requirements which stem from the trademark policy (yes them again).

Firefox and mozilla can be released as either an official build or a community release.

• Translate the start snippets
• Firefox Extras
• lots more - we should probably point to the correct wiki pages

This multi locale switcher is best for use in cases where you will have more than one language to install. Even with two it is much cleaner then other locale switchers available.

These are configurations not customisations. These are things that you must change.

1. file: toolkit/defines.inc.po
   • entry: MOZ_LANG_TITLE
   • use: Used in the language .xpi in file install.rdf. Its added to '%s Langauge Pack'
   • action: Set to the English name for your language
2. file: browser/defines.inc.po
   • entry: MOZ_LANGPACK_CREATOR
   • use: Used in install.rdf's creator tag
   • action: Set to the name of the language pack translator eg a group, company or person
3. file: browser.inc
   • entry: MOZ_LANGPACK_CONTRIBUTORS
   • use: Credit those who helped create the language pack
   • action: you need to edit this file directly ie not the PO file. Uncomment the MOZ_LANGPACK_CONTRIBUTORS line and make changes as needed.
4. file: toolkit/chrome/global/intl.properties.po
   • entry: general.useragent.locale
   • use: assume this is the locale the browser publishes
   • action: change to your locale xx-YY (language-COUNTRY) leave out country if you don't need that for your language
5. file: toolkit/chrome/global/intl.properties.po
   • entry: intl.accept_languages
   • use: tells a website what languages you prefer your content in
   • action: set the various language settings you require
6. file: browser/chrome/browser-region/region.properties.po
   • entry: general.useragent.contentlocale
   • use: unsure
   • action: change it to your country code

Various dialogues are sized within the XUL work. Often they have entries in the DTD which allow you to change the size of the dialogue. It is a very time-consuming process, but hopefully the bookmarklet and instructions created by Axel Hecht will help you quickly get the correct size to enter into your final files.

For reference (as the site seems down now)

• Put the following text into the location field of a new bookmark: (Make sure that you are not putting in smart (round) quotes produced by the wiki software)

javascript:(function(){var p=2;var cs=window.getComputedStyle(document.documentElement,null);var fs=cs.getPropertyCSSValue('font-size').getFloatValue(5);var w=cs.getPropertyCSSValue('width').getFloatValue(5);var h=cs.getPropertyCSSValue('height').getFloatValue(5);prompt('Dialog size:', 'width: '+Math.ceil(w/fs*p)/p+'; height: '+Math.ceil(h/fs*p)/p+';');})();

• Browse to the correct xul file with Firefox, for example chrome://browser/components/preferences/preferences.xul
• Choose your bookmark with the javascript and a message box displays the width and height

You can change various settings to make the browser more specific to your locale. Be aware that some changes are not allowed in official Mozilla Foundation builds.

TODO

• default start URL
• default search engine
• adding search engines specific to your locale
• bookmark customisation

* Web parts. See http://wiki.mozilla.org/L10n:Web_parts * Google snippets. See this bugzilla bug

This extract of an email from Pavel Franc of the Czech team highlights other pieces of Firefox that need to be localised.

The Czech (cs-CZ) Thunderbird 1.0 windows builds are ready. We do now our QA testing.

ftp://ftp.czilla.cz/test/thunderbird/1.0/

The following files outside chrome were changed in zip archive:

• * README.txt … translated
• * talkback-l10n.ini … translated
• + cs.aff … Czech spellchecker
• + cs.dic … Czech spellchecker
• - en-US.aff … removed
• - en-US.dic … removed
• * rss.rdf … translated
• * mailViews.dat … translated
• * all-thuderbird.js … changed useragent.locale

and in installer:

• * install.js … changed locale and translated shortcuts
• * UninstallThunderbird.zip … translated
• * 7zSD.sfx … translated by ResourceHacker