revised Charter

Due to the number of changes that we’ve made to
the spec that forced us to revise our specification to 1.2, our TC must recharter. 
Our most recent charter revision is posted at the following URL-> http://www.oasis-open.org/archives/xliff/200502/msg00000.html

 

We’ll discuss and attempt a ballot (or agree to
a ballot) on the proposed re-charter at tomorrow’s meeting.

 

Below is the draft I’ve authored – note there
are minimal changes from the original.

 

Regards,

Tony

 

 

XML Localisation Interchange File Format (XLIFF)

 

Statement of Purpose

 

The purpose of the OASIS XLIFF TC is to define,
through extensible XML 

vocabularies, and promote the adoption of, a
specification for the 

interchange of localisable software and document
based objects and 

related metadata. To date, the committee has
published two 

specifications - XLIFF 1.0 and XLIFF 1.1 - that
define how to mark up 

and capture localisable data that will interoperate
with different 

processes or phases without loss of information. The
specifications are 

tool-neutral, support the entire localization
process, and support 

common software and document data formats and mark-up
languages. The 

specifications provide an extensibility mechanism to
allow the 

development of tools compatible with an implementer's
data formats and 

workflow requirements.  The extensibility
mechanism provides controlled 

inclusion of information not defined in the
specification.

 

The state of software and documentation localisation
before XLIFF was 

that a software or documentation provider delivered
their localisable 

resources to a localisation service provider in a
number of disparate 

file formats. Once software providers and technical
communicators 

commenced implementing XLIFF, the task of
interchanging localisation 

data was simplified. Using proprietary and/or non-standard
resource 

formats force either the source provider or the
localisation service 

provider to implement costly and inefficient
pre-processing of 

localisable content. For publishers with many
proprietary or 

non-standard formats, this requirement becomes a
major hurdle when 

attempting to localise their software. For software
developers and 

technical communicators employing enterprise
localisation tools and 

processes, XLIFF defines a standard but extensible
vocabulary that 

captures relevant metadata for any point in the
lifecycle which can be 

exchanged between a variety of commercial and
open-source tools.

 

The first phase, completed 31
 October 2003, created a 1.1 version committee 

specification that concentrated on software UI
resource file localisable 

data requirements. The next phase consists of
promoting the adoption of 

XLIFF throughout the industry through additional
collateral and 

specifications, continuing to advance the committee
specification 

towards an official OASIS standard, contributing to
the development of a 

standard localisation directives tag library and
consuming it when 

available, and revising the XLIFF spec to 1.2 version
to support

document based content segmentation and alignment
requirements. To 

encourage adoption of XLIFF, the TC will define and
publish implementation

guides for the most commonly used resource formats
(HTML, Window Resources,

Java Resource Bundles, and gettext PO Files).

 

XLIFF TC work and deliverables adhere to OASIS IPR
policy.

 

List of Deliverables

 

- XLIFF 1.2 Specification and XSD to support
Segmentation & Alignment - December 2005

- XLIFF 1.2 XHTML/HTML Representation Guides -
December 2005

- XLIFF 1.2 Java Resource Bundle Representation Guide
- January 2006

- XLIFF 1.2 Windows Resources Representation Guide -
January 2006

- XLIFF 1.2 PO
File Representation Guide - December 2005

- XLIFF 1.2 XML Representation guide - January 2006

 

- Submit XLIFF 1.2 for public review and
consideration as OASIS Standard - February 2006

 

In addition, the XLIFF TC will endeavour to deliver
the following as 

time and resources permit:

 

- XLIFF 1.2 ResX Representation Guide

- Review and input to development of Standard
Localisation Directives 

Tag Library

- IGNITE Certification Programme

Tony Jewtushenko

Director- R&D - Product Innovator Ltd. (Ireland)

P: +353.1.8875183; M: +353.87.2479057; W: www.productinnovator.com