Dear Etoys develoeprs,
I have discussed with Bert in the past that I think that eToys needs a substantive review of it's UI strings with an eye towards enhancing it's internationalization (i18n) and making it easier to localize.
My pet peeve is that there are many instances where the number of strings to localize could possibly be reduced by eliminating minor variations (camel case, spaces, punctuation) that are not truly meaningful, but there are far more substantial i18n issues that require attention. I feel that real progress in enhancing eToys i18n requires a comprehensive and systematic approach and is unlikely to simply emerge from the sum of fixed bugs in the tracker.
It is my opinion that the best way to approach this is to form a "tiger team" (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_team ) chartered and empowered to conduct a systematic string review and to introduce the necessary changes. It should consist of at least one core eToys developer (with the experience to determine which changes might have unexpected "knock-on" effects) and one or more localizer (to identify and advocate for potential string changes).
I understand that developer time is precious and that there are always bugs to fix and new features to code, but I would ask the eToys developers to think strategically about the potential impact of improving the quality of the UI experience (in over 100 languages) versus adding a new feature or hunting down a bug. It seems to me that i18n enhancement would be a high ROI (return on investment) activity and therefore a high priority, in spite of the fact that it is admittedly a somewhat mundane and fussy task.
I would be willing to commit my own time to taking part in such a string review, but I would want to know in advance that it would be fast-tracked for action (not just filed in the bug tracker) and it would be important to have input from an eToys developer (thus the suggested tiger team approach). Is there an eToys developer that feels as strongly about i18n as I do and that would be willing to work with me on this effort? Consider that the quality of your strings in other languages forms much of that user's impression of the quality and utility of your software.