keydr/docs/plans/2026-03-17-fix-remaining-untranslated-strings.md

Plan: Fix Remaining Untranslated UI Strings

Context

The i18n system is implemented but several categories of strings were missed:

1. Menu item labels/descriptions are cached as String at construction and never refreshed when locale changes
2. Skill tree branch names and level names are hardcoded &'static str in BranchDefinition/LevelDefinition
3. Passage selector labels ("All (Built-in + all books)", "Built-in passages only", "Book: ...") are hardcoded
4. Branch progress list (branch_progress_list.rs) renders branch names and "Overall Key Progress" / "unlocked" / "mastered" in English

Fix 1: Menu Items — Translate at Render Time

Problem: Menu::new() calls t!() once during App::new(). Even though set_ui_locale() runs after construction, the items are cached as String and never refreshed when the user changes UI language mid-session.

Fix: Define a shared static item list (keys + translation keys) and build rendered strings from it in both Widget::render() and navigation code.

Files: src/ui/components/menu.rs

• Define a const MENU_ITEMS array of (&str, &str, &str) tuples: (shortcut_key, label_i18n_key, desc_i18n_key). This is the single authoritative definition.
• Remove MenuItem struct and the items: Vec<MenuItem> field.
• Keep selected: usize and theme fields. next()/prev() use MENU_ITEMS.len().
• Add a Menu::item_count() -> usize helper returning MENU_ITEMS.len().
• In Widget::render(), iterate MENU_ITEMS and call t!() for label/description each frame.
• Replace app.menu.items.len() in src/main.rs mouse handler (~line 660) with Menu::item_count().

Fix 2: Skill Tree Branch and Level Names — Replace name with name_key

Problem: BranchDefinition.name and LevelDefinition.name are &'static str with English text. They are used purely for UI display (confirmed: no serialization, logging, or export uses).

Fix: Replace name with name_key on both structs. The name_key holds a translation key (e.g. "skill_tree.branch_primary_letters"). All display sites use t!(def.name_key).

Add BranchDefinition::display_name() and LevelDefinition::display_name() convenience methods that return t!(self.name_key) so call sites stay simple.

Change find_key_branch() to return (&'static BranchDefinition, &'static LevelDefinition, usize) instead of (&'static BranchDefinition, &'static str, usize). This gives callers access to the LevelDefinition and its name_key so they can localize the level name themselves.

Complete consumer inventory:

File	Lines	Usage
src/ui/components/skill_tree.rs	~366	Branch name in branch list header
src/ui/components/skill_tree.rs	~445	Branch name in detail header
src/ui/components/skill_tree.rs	~483	Level name in detail level list
src/ui/components/branch_progress_list.rs	~95	Branch name in single-branch drill sidebar
src/ui/components/branch_progress_list.rs	~188	Branch name in multi-branch progress cells
src/main.rs	~3931	Branch name in "branches available" milestone
src/main.rs	~3961	Branch names in "branch complete" milestone text
src/main.rs	~6993	Branch name in unlock confirmation dialog
src/main.rs	~7327	Branch name + level name in keyboard detail panel (via find_key_branch())

Files:

• src/engine/skill_tree.rs — Replace name with name_key on both structs; add display_name() methods; change find_key_branch() return type; populate name_key for all entries
• src/ui/components/skill_tree.rs — Use def.display_name() / level.display_name() at 3 sites
• src/ui/components/branch_progress_list.rs — Use def.display_name() at 2 sites; also translate "Overall Key Progress", "unlocked", "mastered"
• src/main.rs — Use def.display_name() at 4 sites; update find_key_branch() call site to use level.display_name()
• locales/en.yml — Add branch/level name keys under skill_tree:
• locales/de.yml — Add German translations

Note on truncation: branch_progress_list.rs uses fixed-width formatting ({:<14}, truncation widths 10/12/14). German branch names that exceed these widths will be truncated. This is acceptable for now — the widget already handles this via truncate_and_pad(). Proper dynamic-width layout is a separate concern.

Translation keys to add:

skill_tree:
  branch_primary_letters: 'Primary Letters'
  branch_capital_letters: 'Capital Letters'
  branch_numbers: 'Numbers 0-9'
  branch_prose_punctuation: 'Prose Punctuation'
  branch_whitespace: 'Whitespace'
  branch_code_symbols: 'Code Symbols'
  level_frequency_order: 'Frequency Order'
  level_common_sentence_capitals: 'Common Sentence Capitals'
  level_name_capitals: 'Name Capitals'
  level_remaining_capitals: 'Remaining Capitals'
  level_common_digits: 'Common Digits'
  level_all_digits: 'All Digits'
  level_essential: 'Essential'
  level_common: 'Common'
  level_expressive: 'Expressive'
  level_enter_return: 'Enter/Return'
  level_tab_indent: 'Tab/Indent'
  level_arithmetic_assignment: 'Arithmetic & Assignment'
  level_grouping: 'Grouping'
  level_logic_reference: 'Logic & Reference'
  level_special: 'Special'

Also add to progress section (translation values contain only text, no alignment whitespace — padding is applied in rendering code):

progress:
  overall_key_progress: 'Overall Key Progress'
  unlocked_mastered: '%{unlocked}/%{total} unlocked (%{mastered} mastered)'

Fix 3: Passage Book Selector Labels

Problem: passage_options() returns hardcoded "All (Built-in + all books)", "Built-in passages only", and "Book: {title}".

Fix: Add t!() calls in passage_options(). Book titles (proper nouns like "Pride and Prejudice") stay untranslated per plan.

Files:

• src/generator/passage.rs — Add use crate::i18n::t;, convert the two label strings and the "Book:" prefix
• locales/en.yml — Add keys under select::

  select:
    passage_all: 'All (Built-in + all books)'
    passage_builtin: 'Built-in passages only'
    passage_book_prefix: 'Book: %{title}'
  

• locales/de.yml — German translations

Verification

1. cargo check — must compile
2. cargo test --lib i18n::tests — catalog parity and placeholder parity tests catch missing keys
3. cargo test --lib — no new test failures
4. Add tests for the new translated surfaces. To avoid parallel-test races on global locale state, new tests use t!("key", locale = "de") directly on the translation keys rather than calling ambient-locale helpers like display_name() or passage_options(). This keeps tests deterministic without needing serial execution or locale-parameterized API variants.
   • Test that t!("skill_tree.branch_primary_letters", locale = "de") returns the expected German text
   • Test that t!("select.passage_all", locale = "de") returns the expected German text