It is of utter importance that we encourage and set forth a plan by which we realize more translations of various existing Open Source documents to not only encourage more Arab users to consider Linux and Open Source but to educate them of its benefits. We are in dire need of a systematic manner in which the many existing Open Source documents get translated to Arabic. This importance and urgency stems from the fact this work needs to be done in the Arabeyes scope and under its umbrella since Arabeyes will ensure these resulting translations existence in one location in very similar formats. This "central" location of these translated documents will lift a heavy burden off of the Arab Open Source enthusiast in that it will not force him/her to search the entire web for bits of information here and there. One of Arabeyes' many missions is to centralize all the Arabic knowledge about Open Source and as such our collective means will be our strength.
The required procedure with regard to proposing new translation projects and how best to proceed as well as how to go about writing Arabic documentation in described in the First Steps. We are very eager to hear about your thoughts and comments !!
For the time being and until current translation projects get staffed to reasonable levels, Arabeyes is option to stick with KDE and GNOME. The reason those two environments were selected was simple - we wanted to reach the maximum number of potential Arab Linux users and enable them to the be affective regular/daily Linux users. However, we realize that other aspects of the open source world may have the same impact and that some effort should be invested in other areas. So, if you are of that opinion and you have existing applications/programs, documentation or projects that you believe ought to be looked into and contribute to in their translation to Arabic, feel free to note them and we'll gladly discuss the matter. Arabeyes is here to help and help we will.
Again, please share with us your thoughts/ideas/comments !!
The open source scene is unfortunately lacking Arabic documentation. Arabeyes is trying to fill this gap by documenting in Arabic several aspects with regards to the *n*x world. This documentation is very important since it will permit others to learn from what Arabeyes members has gone through and experienced.
Examples of what have been achieved so far include, Arabic LyX HOWTO and the Arabic CVS HOWTO . Unfortunately this is a very time consuming process and it requires many man-hours to do correctly.
If you think you have sufficient knowledge about anything related to the open source world: Linux/Unix, programming (C/C++, python, HTML, etc - the list is long :-) or that you don't have enough knowledge on a specific topic that interests which you'd be willing to a abit about or browse the web about, then please let us know. We could instruct you on how to compile a list of the necessary information which you could mold into an Arabic HOWTO. Your participation is much needed and is required now !! Let us hear about your intentions and we will be very happy to help you and to encourage you and of course to host these documents on Arabeyes website.