Identifying localizable text

Steps for this task

  1. Determine which elements of the application need to be translated.
    Good candidates for localization include the following:
    • Graphical user interfaces: window titles, menus and menu items, buttons, on-screen instructions
    • Prompts in command-line interfaces
    • Application output: messages and logs
  2. Assign a unique key to each element for use in message catalogs for the application.
    The key provides a language-neutral link between the application and language-specific strings in the message catalogs. Establishing a naming convention for keys before creating the catalogs can make writing code with these keys much more intuitive for interface programmers.

Example

Suppose you are localizing the GUI for a banking system, and the first window contains a pull-down list to be used for selecting a type of account. The labels for the list and the account types in the list are good choices for localization. Three elements require keys: the list itself and two items in the list.

What to do next

Create message catalogs for the language-specific strings.

Related concepts
Internationalization



Searchable topic ID:   tinidlt
Last updated: Jun 21, 2007 4:12:58 PM CDT    WebSphere Application Server Express, Version 5.0.2
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wasinfo/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.websphere.exp.doc/info/exp/ae/tin_idlt.html

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