Help translate VeScreen

中文 · Contributing

VeScreen currently includes Simplified Chinese and English. You can improve a label, proofread a guide, or contribute another language. Translations are reviewed through GitHub issues and pull requests.

For a wording suggestion, open an issue with the language, page or control, current text, proposed text and a brief reason. A screenshot or the steps to reach the text help establish context. Remove private invitations, passwords and personal content from screenshots. A wording suggestion does not require a development environment.

Make your first correction

Try the affected screen and read the nearby controls. Check both existing languages when helpful; the terminology and voice guide owns names and writing style.
Fork VeScreen and work on a branch from current main, following Contributing. Small text edits can also be proposed through GitHub's file editor.
Find the text in the files below. In a locale file, change the string value after the colon. Keep the key and its placeholders. Search the key in the source to see where it appears; for example:
sh
```
rg -n -F 'host.title' src/client
```
Preview the affected screen and run the relevant checks. For a typo in one language, edit that language. If the underlying meaning changes, update the corresponding messages in every registered language.
Open a PR to main. Explain the wording problem, the language and surfaces changed, and what you checked. Mention anything you could not preview; maintainers can help with technical validation. PR format and publication follow Contributing.

Find the right text

Surface	Editable source
App launcher and shared Browser/App UI, including tooltips and accessible labels	English, Chinese
Welcome lines, waiting captions and changing browser-tab titles	The `enPlayful` / `zhPlayful` pools and title-frame catalogs in those same files; website welcome lines reuse these pools
Website	Page markup and interactive labels; text is paired by `en` and `zh-CN`
Introduction film	Film sources; captions, artwork and playback labels have their own bilingual text
App console window	`consoleCopy` in console.go; entries are ordered English, Chinese, visual; retain the third slot even when empty
README and entry guides	README pair, documentation home, getting started, troubleshooting and self-hosting, each with a `.zh-CN.md` counterpart

The App and Server serve the same web UI. Edit source files; build output and release packages are generated. Translating an App message does not also translate a website caption. Update related instructions when an action name changes. Technical references keep one shared version; see documentation ownership.

Language catalogs are bundled with the web assets; a new language also needs the registry import described below. Rebuild and publish the App or Server that serves the affected UI after an edit. Installed packages do not load external language files. When the App connects to a remote site, that site serves its UI, so updating the site's web translations does not require reinstalling the App. The website has its own build and deployment workflow. The documentation website renders those same Markdown sources; editing a guide updates its web page on the next website publication. Its navigation and search labels live in site/docs/. Use the website preview to check the generated page as well as GitHub's Markdown view.

Preserve meaning and syntax

Write naturally for the target audience. Use the shared glossary for role and password names. Introductions may be light; actions, errors and deployment steps must be clear. Preserve the conditions on performance, platform and connection claims. A cultural reference should still make sense to someone unfamiliar with it. Machine-assisted drafts need proofreading by someone who understands the language and the screen; raise unclear source text in the PR instead of guessing.

Locale files are TypeScript objects. These are existing examples:

// en.ts
"host.title": "{name}'s screen",
// zh.ts
"host.title": "{name} 的屏幕",

host.title is the lookup key; {name} is supplied by the application. Move the placeholder to fit the sentence, preserving its spelling, braces and number of occurrences. The current formatter substitutes each supplied variable once; repeating {name} would leave the second occurrence visible. It accepts plain strings, not HTML or ICU plural expressions. If a language needs plural forms or different sentence composition, describe the actual case so the caller and formatter can be changed together.

Keep quotes, escapes and commas valid. Preserve commands, config keys, URLs, download filenames and format markers such as %s in Go console text. Translate link labels and image descriptions; repair internal anchors when translating Markdown headings. Keep legal license text and third-party notices intact.

Add a language

Search existing issues and PRs for the language first. For a larger translation, start an issue with its language tag, intended coverage and any terminology or layout questions, so contributors can coordinate work and review.

Copy src/client/locales/en.ts to a file such as fr.ts. Translate the messages and title labels, write natural playful entries, and rename the three exports. Retain Record<CopyKey, string>, TitleFrameCatalog and PlayfulCatalog from zh.ts. Chinese currently defines the key set; either existing language can provide context. Complete all keys rather than spreading an English catalog over missing translations.
Import the exports in locales/index.ts and add one registry entry. For example, after translating the catalogs:
ts
```
fr: { name: "Français", short: "FR", tag: "fr", copy: fr,
  titleFrames: frTitleFrames, playful: frPlayful },
```
Use an ASCII locale filename/key, the language's own name in name, a compact button label in short, and a matching language tag in tag. Keep the short label recognizable in one to three characters, such as 中, EN or FR; distinguish regional/script variants when they coexist. The registry supplies the language controls, document language, saved selection and App launch handoff. Chinese, English and visual mode retain their direct buttons; additional languages share one dropdown slot after visual mode. The selected extra language's short label appears on that slot, with its full name in the menu. Initial selection matches a registered tag or key, then its base language; unregistered languages use English. A saved choice takes precedence. The shared system-language policy also covers Chinese script and region variants across App, Server UI and website.
Check complete screens and the launch flow. New UI languages use English in the App console until its own translation is added. Console additions also require updating the launcher and loopback accepted-language checks together; use the App module map.
State coverage in the PR. Website, film and documentation translations can be contributed separately; their existing language controls must be updated when adding a language there. For right-to-left scripts, include text direction and layout verification; a translated catalog alone does not establish RTL support.

Pure-visual mode is an optional presentation, not another language to translate. The small visual scenes are shared with text modes; translate their labels and explanations in the normal catalog. Keep the visual option available.

Playful copy

Each language owns its welcome and waiting arrays, and each playful title has a fixed label plus a variations array. Add or remove entries in that language without matching another language's count, order or references. An empty array omits the decoration; one entry stays static. Operational keys and title labels still require complete translations. Errors, pauses, endings, required actions and slogans stay fixed.

Welcome entries carry text and two symbols, chosen from the existing icon vocabulary to express that sentence in the visual cipher. For example:

{ text: "Your seat is right here.", symbols: ["couch", "heart"] },

Waiting entries are plain strings such as "Pull up a comfy chair.". Keep them brief and natural in context. Avoid temporary trends, literal borrowed dialogue and statements that invent progress, success or remaining time.

All these surfaces show a line immediately and share the playful-copy lifecycle. Keep timing in that owner. Preview welcome text and its cipher at /__tooltip-preview; use /__status-preview for waiting captions and titles. Check both narrow windows and language changes. The website's build picks up welcome edits automatically; its other copy remains separate.

Preview and check

Use the Node/npm versions and local setup in Run from source. For UI catalog edits, run from the repository root:

npm ci
npm run typecheck
npm test -- tests/copy.test.ts

Type checking catches missing keys. The copy tests check registered catalogs for empty text and mismatched placeholders, plus language selection and handoff. Tests do not judge translation quality.

Run the local UI and server as described in the source guide. Choose the language from the top-right controls, open the affected screen and inspect long names or counts in context. Check narrow windows, keyboard focus, tooltips and accessible labels. With extra languages registered, verify that the dropdown stays usable near viewport edges and exposes its expanded/collapsed state to assistive technology. For new languages, also check a reload, App launch, switching back to English, and the optional visual mode. Keep meaningful phrases together instead of adding spaces or hard line breaks to force one desktop layout.

Website and film changes use the website preview. For Markdown changes, run node scripts/check-docs.mjs after staging new files, then review GitHub's rendered Markdown and translated links. Additional checks for code changes follow Contributing.

Help translate VeScreen ​

Make your first correction ​

Find the right text ​

Preserve meaning and syntax ​

Add a language ​

Playful copy ​

Preview and check ​

Further reading ​