Glossary of terms
This document will define the common terminology used through this platform's documentation.
Git¶
Git is a free industry-standard version control system that makes it easier to track changes to files. An Open SDG platform, its data and its metadata, are all powered by files. Changes to these files are tracked (or "versioned") by Git ensuring a complete history of every change to the platform (and its data and metadata) will always be available.
Repository¶
A set of files that is versioned by Git is called a repository. Each repository has its own separate history and administrators.
Github¶
Github.com is a service that hosts Git repositories, and provides a useful interface for maintaining them. Github does offer paid services, but everything that this platform needs is part of Github's free offerings.
Forks¶
Github offers an easy way to make a copy of a repository, and the term they use is "fork." So, a fork is a copy of a repository. It can also be used as a verb: "to fork" means "to copy a repository," and "forked" means "copied a repository."
Environments: Staging vs production¶
It is important to be able to see proposed changes before releasing them to the general public. To accomplish this, there should be 2 separate environments:
Staging¶
This is where proposed changes are first visible.
Production¶
This is where the general public views the platform.
Site repository vs data repository¶
The implementation of this platform involves maintaining 2 repositories:
Data repository¶
This is where the platform's data and metadata are managed. A "starter" repository is available which can be easily copied and customised.
Site repository¶
This is where everything else is managed, such as presentation, pages, menus, and documents. A "starter" repository is available which can be easily copied and customised.
Translation keys¶
Open SDG is a multilingual platform, so translation functionality is part of most aspects of the platform. A central concept is that of a "translation key". A translation key is any string of text that refers to a particular translated word/phrase/etc. Translation keys always start with a "group", which is separated by a dot.
NOTE: Because dots have a special meaning in translation keys, groups/keys should never contain any dots themselves.
To illustrate, here are a few examples of translation keys:
general.goalgeneral.goalsglobal_goals.1-titleglobal_goals.2-title
Disaggregations¶
Disaggregated data is data that has been broken down by detailed sub-categories for example gender, age and ethnicity.
Headline¶
And indicator's "headline" is the data series that contains no disaggregations. It is the data series that is typically displayed first, upon viewing the indicator's page.