Question regarding 'placeholders' (Translations)

[Marc Fonvieille]

On Sun, Sep 19, 2004 at 08:25:14PM +0300, Giorgos Keramidas wrote:
> On 2004-09-18 14:24, Remko Lodder <remko at elvandar.org> wrote:
> > --- chapter_orig.sgml   Sat Aug 14 14:35:33 2004
> > +++ chapter.sgml        Sat Sep 18 14:20:02 2004
> > @@ -442,6 +442,32 @@
> >  --></programlisting>
> >        </answer>
> >      </qandaentry>
> > +
> > +    <qandaentry>
> > +      <question>
> > +       <para>How should i handle untranslated documents when i want to
> > +         import them into the &os; cvs tree?</para>
> > +      </question>
> > +
> > +      <answer>
> > +       <para>If you have untranslated documents, or documents which are
> > +         not yet reviewed, you should use so called
> > +         <quote>placeholders</quote>. The correct syntax for using
> > +         those placeholders is:</para>
> > +
> > +       <programlisting>  <sect1>
> > +    <title>* Translated title</title>
> > +
> > +    <para></para>
> > +  </sect1></programlisting>
> > +
> > +        <para>The para statements are used to fill the sections.  If
> > +         they do not exist it will result in a failing build.  If
> > +         you have a sect2 or deeper statement in your chapter, please
> > +         put the para statements in the deepest section.</para>
> > +
> > +      </answer>
> > +    </qandaentry>
> >    </qandaset>
> >  </chapter>
> 
> This looks fine.  You can even simplify the text of the last paragraph a
> bit by using:
> 
> 	Section elements (sect, sect1, etc.) require at least some content.
> 	To silence the SGML parser, you can use the empty <para> trick
> 	until you have real content to add.

How this could be fine?
This patch does not clearly state that the non-translated text must not
be left in the SGML files.  And the placeholders used are non-efficient,
just try to put one in the Handbook and read the TOC, you will see...
And what means the * ?  Something in progress?

The logic would say to use something like

<title>Non-translated title * To Be Translated *</title>
or
<title>Non-translated title * Translation In Progress *</title>

which are easily understable and easy to locate in a (large) TOC.

Marc