started adding rdoc formatting

.gitignore

@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 .DS_Store
-test/rails/fixtures
+test/rails/fixtures
+doc

lib/i18n.rb

@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+# Authors::   Matt Aimonetti (http://railsontherun.com/),
+#             Sven Fuchs (http://www.artweb-design.de),
+#             Joshua Harvey (http://www.workingwithrails.com/person/759-joshua-harvey),
+#             Saimon Moore (http://saimonmoore.net),
+#             Stephan Soller (http://www.arkanis-development.de/) 
+# Copyright:: Copyright (c) 2008 The Ruby i18n Team
+# License::   MIT
 require 'i18n/core_ext'
 require 'i18n/backend/simple'
 
@@ -6,7 +13,7 @@ module I18n
   @@default_locale = 'en-US'
 
   class << self
-    # Returns the current backend. Defaults to Backend::Simple.
+    # Returns the current backend. Defaults to +Backend::Simple+.
     def backend
       @@backend
     end
@@ -37,84 +44,85 @@ def locale=(locale)
     end
 
     # Translates, pluralizes and interpolates a given key using a given locale, 
-    # scope, default as well as interpolation values.
+    # scope, and default, as well as interpolation values.
     #
-    # LOOKUP
+    # *LOOKUP*
     #
-    # Translation data is organized as a nested hash using the locales as toplevel
-    # keys. Upper-level keys can be used as namespaces. E.g. ActionView ships with
-    # the translation: :'en-US' => {:date => {:formats => {:short => "%b %d"}}}
+    # Translation data is organized as a nested hash using the upper-level keys 
+    # as namespaces. <em>E.g.</em>, ActionView ships with the translation: 
+    # <tt>:date => {:formats => {:short => "%b %d"}}</tt>.
     # 
     # Translations can be looked up at any level of this hash using the key argument 
-    # and the scope option. E.g., in this example :date.t 'en-US' returns the whole 
-    # translations hash {:formats => {:short => "%b %d"}}
+    # and the scope option. <em>E.g.</em>, in this example <tt>:date.t 'en-US'</tt> 
+    # returns the whole translations hash <tt>{:formats => {:short => "%b %d"}}</tt>.
     # 
     # Key can be either a single key or a dot-separated key (both Strings and Symbols 
-    # work). E.g. the short format can be looked up using both of:
-    # 'date.formats.short'.t 'en-US'
-    # :'date.formats.short'.t 'en-US'
+    # work). <em>E.g.</em>, the short format can be looked up using both:
+    #   'date.formats.short'.t 'en-US'
+    #   :'date.formats.short'.t 'en-US'
     # 
     # Scope can be either a single key, a dot-separated key or an array of keys
     # or dot-separated keys. Keys and scopes can be combined freely. So these
     # examples will all look up the same short date format:
-    # 'date.formats.short'.t 'en-US'
-    # 'formats.short'.t 'en-US', :scope => 'date'
-    # 'short'.t 'en-US', :scope => 'date.formats'
-    # 'short'.t 'en-US', :scope => %w(date formats)
+    #   'date.formats.short'.t 'en-US'
+    #   'formats.short'.t 'en-US', :scope => 'date'
+    #   'short'.t 'en-US', :scope => 'date.formats'
+    #   'short'.t 'en-US', :scope => %w(date formats)
     #
-    # INTERPOLATION
+    # *INTERPOLATION*
     #
     # Translations can contain interpolation variables which will be replaced by
-    # values passed #translate as part of the options hash with the keys matching
+    # values passed to #translate as part of the options hash, with the keys matching
     # the interpolation variable names. 
     #
-    # E.g. with a translation :foo => "foo {{bar}}" the option value for the key 
-    # bar will be interpolated to the translation:
-    # :foo.t :bar => 'baz' # => 'foo baz'
+    # <em>E.g.</em>, with a translation <tt>:foo => "foo {{bar}}"</tt> the option 
+    # value for the key +bar+ will be interpolated into the translation:
+    #   :foo.t :bar => 'baz' # => 'foo baz'
     #
-    # PLURALIZATION
+    # *PLURALIZATION*
     #
     # Translation data can contain pluralized translations. Pluralized translations
-    # are arrays of singluar/plural versions of translations like ['Foo', 'Foos'].
+    # are arrays of singluar/plural versions of translations like <tt>['Foo', 'Foos']</tt>.
     #
-    # Note that the I18n::Backend::Simple only supports an algorithm for English 
+    # Note that <tt>I18n::Backend::Simple</tt> only supports an algorithm for English 
     # pluralization rules. Other algorithms can be supported by custom backends.
     #
-    # Returns the singular version of a pluralized translation:
-    # :foo, :count => 1 # => 'Foo'
+    # This returns the singular version of a pluralized translation:
+    #   :foo, :count => 1 # => 'Foo'
     #
-    # Both return the plural version of a pluralized translation:
-    # :foo, :count => 0 # => 'Foos'
-    # :foo, :count => 2 # => 'Foos'
+    # These both return the plural version of a pluralized translation:
+    #   :foo, :count => 0 # => 'Foos'
+    #   :foo, :count => 2 # => 'Foos'
     # 
-    # The :count option can be used both for pluralization and interpolation. E.g. 
-    # with the translation :foo => ['{{count}} foo', '{{count}} foos'] count will
+    # The <tt>:count</tt> option can be used both for pluralization and interpolation. 
+    # <em>E.g.</em>, with the translation 
+    # <tt>:foo => ['{{count}} foo', '{{count}} foos']</tt>, count will
     # be interpolated to the pluralized translation:
-    # :foo, :count => 1 # => '1 foo'
+    #   :foo, :count => 1 # => '1 foo'
     #
-    # DEFAULTS
+    # *DEFAULTS*
     #
-    # Returns the translation for :foo or 'default' if no translation was found.
-    # :foo.t :default => 'default'
+    # This returns the translation for <tt>:foo</tt> or <tt>default</tt> if no translation was found:
+    #   :foo.t :default => 'default'
     #
-    # Returns the translation for :foo or the translation for :bar if no 
-    # translation for :foo was found.
-    # :foo.t :default => :bar
+    # This returns the translation for <tt>:foo</tt> or the translation for <tt>:bar</tt> if no 
+    # translation for <tt>:foo</tt> was found:
+    #   :foo.t :default => :bar
     #
-    # Returns the translation for :foo or the translation for :bar or 'default' if
-    # no translations for :foo and :bar were found.
-    # :foo.t :default => [:bar, 'default']
+    # Returns the translation for <tt>:foo</tt> or the translation for <tt>:bar</tt> 
+    # or <tt>default</tt> if no translations for <tt>:foo</tt> and <tt>:bar</tt> were found.
+    #   :foo.t :default => [:bar, 'default']
     #
-    # BULK LOOKUP
+    # <b>BULK LOOKUP</b>
     #
-    # Returns an array with the translations for :foo and :bar.
-    # I18n.t [:foo, :bar]
+    # This returns an array with the translations for <tt>:foo</tt> and <tt>:bar</tt>.
+    #   I18n.t [:foo, :bar]
     #
     # Can be used with dot-separated nested keys:
-    # I18n.t [:'baz.foo', :'baz.bar']
+    #   I18n.t [:'baz.foo', :'baz.bar']
     #
     # Which is the same as using a scope option:
-    # I18n.t [:foo, :bar], :scope => :baz
+    #   I18n.t [:foo, :bar], :scope => :baz
     def translate(*args)
       options = args.last.is_a?(Hash) ? args.pop : {}      
       key = args.shift