1191424 - [translate] Add a way to report problems in translatable strings

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1361318

(Webtools Graveyard :: Pontoon, defect, P3)

Description

[Amir Aharoni]

Some strings have problems: missing parameter documentation, ambiguous phrasing that cannot be documented without further explanation, spelling errors in English, etc.

It would be really great to have a way to send a report about such problems directly from the Pontoon interface. My experience from translatewiki.net, transifex, OneSky and other web translation platforms clearly tells me that this encourages participation and creates communities of translators that help each other.

Comment 1

[Tomer Cohen :tomer]

It would be fairly easy to place a link near each string that will point to an automatically filed bug report form in Bugzilla, and also query the Bugzilla API for bugs that have already filed. The question is if Bugzilla is the right place to report such problems, or they should be kept on another list, and bugs will be filed if someone from the l10n team thinks that this is a real problem.

Comment 2

[Amir Aharoni]

It makes sense to me to have it in Bugzilla, as long as:
* The form that the translators have to fill is as easy as possible.
* It's configured in Bugzilla in a way that will actually make it comfortable for the developers to fix it ;)

Comment 3

[Tomer Cohen :tomer]

(In reply to Amir Aharoni from comment #2)
> It makes sense to me to have it in Bugzilla, as long as:
> * The form that the translators have to fill is as easy as possible.

I don't think that it should have a customized form, as it makes things more difficult. You can link to the regular form, with most fields already filed. It is also possible to have the customized form on the Pontoon side rather than on Bugzilla, which will make it more resistant to Bugzilla upgrades. :-) 

* Product/Component: Can be the locale category, a category for reporting string issues (If we have such one), or even something dedicated to Pontoon string issues. 

* URL: Link to the translation page on Pontoon, the string page on MXR, etc.

* Summary: the file and the key, summary of the problem, 

etc. 

Note that translators would need an account on BMO, which might be an hassle to them, but would allow them following the progress of their reports, and having discussions with other translators and developers responsible to these strings.

> * It's configured in Bugzilla in a way that will actually make it
> comfortable for the developers to fix it ;)

If it in Bugzilla it should be as such, but if it kept outside, that's not an issue, but a task of the person who'd file it in Bugzilla.

Comment 4

[Matjaz Horvat [:mathjazz]]

Even though I'd like to keep Pontoon feature set as minimal as possible to avoid making it bloated, I find this idea very useful.

I find the idea of redirecting people to Bugzilla a bit too complicated given that it's a separate application, separate login and... well... Bugzilla. I'd rather keep the interface as minimal as possible for localizers, down to a list of already reported issues for the string and field for a new one. That being said, we could use Bugzilla API for that purpose as backend so project managers could reply there and those replies would show up in Pontoon, too.

Comment 5

[Tomer Cohen :tomer]

(In reply to Matjaz Horvat [:mathjazz] from comment #4)
> I find the idea of redirecting people to Bugzilla a bit too complicated
> given that it's a separate application, separate login and... well...
> Bugzilla. I'd rather keep the interface as minimal as possible for

Please keep in mind that a if you go with the dedicated list of problems route, it'd be more difficult to have a discussion on translation issues with developers and people who don't use Pontoon. It should be possible to submit new issues into Bugzilla from the API, but than it won't be linked to the reporter account. It might be possible to run a call to Bugzilla API and query if the user is logged-in before submitting issues to Bugzilla, and this way we can provide them instructions on how to create account on Bugzilla and basic use.

Comment 6

[Matjaz Horvat [:mathjazz]]

I think you're right - this discussion should also involve other people, at least until the entire universe moves to Pontoon. ;)

Following Amir's and your suggestion in comment #2 and comment #3, how about we simply put "Report a problem" link to each original string pointing to filing new bug on Bugzilla or linking to one if it already exist (should be able to detect through API somehow)?

Comment 7

[Tomer Cohen :tomer]

(In reply to Matjaz Horvat [:mathjazz] from comment #6)
> Following Amir's and your suggestion in comment #2 and comment #3, how about
> we simply put "Report a problem" link to each original string pointing to
> filing new bug on Bugzilla or linking to one if it already exist (should be
> able to detect through API somehow)?

It imagine this would be something like this one: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?assigned_to=nobody%40mozilla.org&bug_ignored=0&bug_severity=normal&bug_status=NEW&comment=Please%20describe%20the%20problem%20here%E2%80%A6&component=Other&contenttypemethod=autodetect&contenttypeselection=text%2Fplain&form_name=enter_bug&op_sys=Unspecified&priority=--&product=Mozilla%20Localizations&rep_platform=Unspecified&short_desc=String%20issue%20on%20{{file}}%20{{key}}%20%20[reported%20via%20Pontoon]&target_milestone=---&version=unspecified

Notes: 
* I left on the bug summary two keywords that should be changed by Pontoon for each string.
* You can re-generate such pre-filed bug templates by the Remember Values As Bookmarkable Template button on the bottom of Bugzilla new bug form. You can also customize my demo link above, but please remember to remove all the parameters that are not required for the report, as Bugzilla provide a lot of unnecessary parameters in its bookmarkable templates. 
* The link above will open bugs on Mozilla Localizations/Other product/component. It is possible to open these bugs on the locale component, but I am not sure if these components are monitored.