the Right to Left - Collaboration for Localization.

Some Questions and Answers:

Who are you?

My name is Tom Bigelajzen, I live and work in Israel.
I'm a Web Developer focused on the User Experience aspects of Web development: Graphic design, HTML, CSS, Javascript, Accessibility and Localization.

I work for a company called "Hinbit Development", I'm a member of the Israeli Internet Association, the Drupal-Israel team and "Hamakor" - An Israeli Society for Free Software and Open-Source Code.

Why are you doing this?

I'm involved in several Localization projects, and as a web developer in Israel I struggle with this issue on a dally basis.

A few months ago I went to "August Penguin" - the yearly communal Israeli conference dedicated to Free and Open Source Software. I noticed that many of the FOSS community members and Web developers in Israel are involved in one or more Localization projects - Developing RTL support for the Linux desktop, localization of OpenOffice, translation of CMS environments etc.

I researched a bit and couldn't find any centralized updated knowledge base where one can find all the answers, code snippets, guides, case studies and professional help related to RTL Localization.

So, I decided to create one.

Why "the Right to Left"?

It's a nice double meaning phrase that I thought of a long time ago.
I had a great idea for a logo and I just had to use it, so the name stayed.

What is your vision for this project?

First of all, this project is intended to be open for everyone - not only Hebrew speakers, but Arabic, Farsi, Urdu or any other RTL language developers and translators.
Screw politics.

Second, all the infrastructure and the content of this project will be open:
I'll use Drupal and a Wiki for content management.
All the textual content like guides and articles will be licensed under Creative Commons.
All the code that will be published on the website will be licensed under an open license (like GPL, LGPL or BSD).

Third, I would love to see this project become a growing community project, supported by the development community - by developers, for developers.

Love the idea! How can I help?

Right now I'm collecting ideas -

• What should be the main subjects to focus on?
• How should the content of the project be organized?
• How and who should validate and organize all the content and data collected?
• How should the project financially support itself (donations, AdWords etc.)?
• Should the communication on the website be done only in English or should there be localized sections for local communities?
• etc...

I'm working on a basic design and the content management system, I hope that soon I'll be able to come up with a wiki or a forum for sharing ideas. Until then you can use the form on the right to share your thoughts and feedback.