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Capturing graphics can be tricky. I assume in this case you mean screen shots?
1) If you can, capture each localized screen prior to translation of
the manual content. This way the translator knows the exact UI labels
to use.
2) If you cannot capture in all languages, document how to get to each
screen (especially if showing a particular result) to make the
localized capture process quick and easy.
3) Do not use callouts on screen captures. Use a numbering system and
include callouts in a numbered reference table along side or below the
screen shot.
4) Account for language expansion - translated text strings being
quite longer than your English source strings - in both the capture
and in the callouts (again, use a table).
5) On the QA side of the application, make sure colors, icons, and
wording is acceptable for the target locale users. (example: a mailbox
is not a mailbox is not a mailbox)
There are quite a few other considerations both on the product side
and on the documentation side to be cautious of. I'd be happy to
discuss this in detail with you offline.
Bill
On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 12:54 PM, Paul Hanson <paul -dot- hanson -at- civco -dot- com> wrote:
> If you do anything with translation of English documentation to another language (the software and my manual are going to be translated into French, Italian, German), this question is for you. Say you find a time machine and you can take the knowledge you have now and go back in time to the day on which you were told you would need to translate your manual (mine is 174 pages) and all of its graphics (mine has 569 links - using InDesign) to those other languages. What would you tell yourself regarding capturing graphics in a non-English language?
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