Glossary of basic terms

Here is a of basic terms relating to web design, online and offline promotion, world wide web and information technology. Click on the links below to access the categories of your choice, you will then be presented with a choice a articles to browse through.

This is a great resource for beginners to assist you in making the right choice for your web design needs or simply to familiarize yourself with the world wide web.

Internationalization and localization 

Internationalization and localization[1] are means of adapting products such as publications, hardware or software for non-native environments, especially other nations and cultures.

Screenshot of software programs localised to Italian.

Scope

Focal points of internationalization and localization efforts include:

• Language
  • Computer-encoded text
    • Alphabets/scripts; different systems of numerals; left-to-right script vs. right-to-left scripts. Most recent systems use the Unicode standard to solve many of these character encoding problems.
    • Spelling variants for different countries where the same language is spoken, e.g. localization (American English) vs. localisation (British English)
  • Graphical representations of text (printed materials, online images containing text)
  • Spoken (Audio)
  • Subtitling of film and video
• Date/time format, including use of different calendars
• Formatting of numbers (decimal points, positioning of separators, character used as separator)
• Time zones (UTC in internationalized environments)
• Currency
• Images and colors: issues of comprehensibility and cultural appropriateness
• Names and titles
• Government assigned numbers (such as the Social Security number in the US, National Insurance number in the UK) and passports
• Telephone numbers, addresses and international postal codes
• Weights and measures
• Paper sizes
• Any other aspect of the product or service that is subject to regulatory compliance

The distinction between internationalization and localization is subtle but important. Internationalization is the adaptation of products for potential use virtually everywhere, while localization is the addition of special features for use in a specific locale. The processes are complementary, and must be combined to lead to the objective of a system that works globally. Subjects unique to localization include:

• Language translation,
• National varieties of languages (see language localization)
• Special support for certain languages such as East Asian languages
• Local customs,
• Local content
• Symbols
• Order of sorting
• Aesthetics
• Cultural values and social context

Difficulties

In making software products, internationalization and localization pose challenging tasks for developers, particularly if the software is not designed from the beginning with these concerns in mind. A common practice is to separate textual data and other environment-dependent resources from the program code. Thus, supporting a different environment, ideally, only requires change in those separate resources without code modification, greatly simplifying the task.

Some say that the development team needs someone who understands foreign languages and cultures and has a technical background and such a person may be difficult to find. Others argue that the commercial case to localise products into multiple languages is very obvious, and that all is needed is a budgetary commitment from the producer to finance the considerable costs. It costs more to produce products for international markets, but in an increasingly global economy, English only is scarcely an option. For instance, if a message displayed to the user in one of several languages is modified, all of the translated versions must be changed. Software libraries that aid this task are available, such as gettext.

Since open source software can generally be freely modified and redistributed, it is more prone to internationalization. Most proprietary software is only available in languages considered to be economically viable whereas the KDE project, for example, has been translated into over 70 languages[2]. Linux is generally available in many languages. The Debian distribution currently loads over 200 languages. Ubuntu's LiveCD allows you to conviently pick to load any and all choices you want from dozens of languages when you boot up or when you choose System>Administration>Language Support. Ubuntu's 7.04 version covers languages from Afar to Zulu including dialect choices such as Ancient or Modern Greek or several varieties of English. GnomeSword makes the Bible available in 57 languages and many dialects in the space of a small USB stick or other storage device.

Methods

The current prevailing practice is for applications to place text in resource strings which are loaded during program execution as needed. These strings, stored in resource files, are relatively easy to translate. Programs are often built to reference resource libraries depending on the selected locale data.

Thus to get an application to support multiple languages one would design the application to select the relevant language resource file at runtime. Resource files are translated to the required languages. This method tends to be application-specific and at best, vendor-specific. The code required to manage date entry verification and many other locale-sensitive data types also must support differing locale requirements. Modern development systems and operating systems include sophisticated libraries for international support of these types. However, many development environments still lack full Unicode support, which drastically hampers the translation effort, especially to East Asian languages.

New methods are evolving all the time to handle these complex issues. One such method, known as NLSO or Natural language support objects uses databases to store resource strings. Another approach is the elimination of all references to culture, politics, history, etc.; avoidance of images (especially text embedded in images); and use of a controlled language. An example of an implementation of these principles is Uwe Muegge's website that uses Google's language tools to create virtual versions of his site in eleven languages.

Relation to globalization

Internationalization is sometimes used interchangeably with globalization to refer to economic and cultural effects of an increasingly interconnected world.

While internationalization most commonly refers to the addition of a framework for multiple language support, especially in software, it sometimes refers to the process whereby something (a corporation, idea, highway, war, etc.) comes to affect multiple nations. This usage is rare; globalization is preferred. Because of globalization, many companies and products are found in multiple countries worldwide, giving rise to increasing localization requirements.

Localization may describe production of goods nearer to end users to reduce environmental and other external costs of globalization.

Relation to localization

In software development, after a product has been internationalized, "localization" refers to the process of making it ready for a specific market.

So you can refer to a product as being "internationalized" if it has been developed to meet most of the needs of an international community, but not yet customized to a specific region. The customization to a specific region is called "localization".

Product localization

Product localization consists of adapting products to a local market and/or culture.

E.g., car manufacturers will adapt models to suit the Chinese market from/to versions from the western market, both of which have specific tastes. Another good example is themed dolls, in Muslim countries they will sport hijabs whereas their European counterparts tend not to.

Software localization

Software localization is a process of translating software user interfaces from one language to another and adapting it to suit a foreign culture. This process is labor-intensive and often requires significant efforts from development teams. There are tools that can simplify the localization process. A lot of these projects get outsourced to specialized companies to cut costs.

Software localization can also refer to adapting software from one culture to another. During localization, some references to history or culture are replaced with an equivalent native reference which ideally does not change the meaning of the statement.

Pseudolocalization is a software testing method that is used to test a software product's readiness for localization.