Final Revised XLIFF TC Charter

Folks – 

 

Below is the final version of the
Charter that we voted to accept in today’s meeting, with references to ITS
& IGNITE removed. 

 

Regards,

Tony

 

----SNIP---

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, 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

 

----SNIP---

 

Tony Jewtushenko

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

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