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Web Site Localization

by Randy Mears

Placing a Web site on the Internet is a good way to achieve a global presence, but a Web site isn’t really global until it addresses the issues of localization. The localization of a Web site consists of resolving user interface issues like language translation and the adaptation of the site to foreign cultural differences. It is not a new discipline, but it is becoming a more important one.

I recently read about a new localization solution that simplifies global Web site development; it uses WYSIWYG displays to help developers create localized Web sites for both desktop and mobile users. This may not be the only toolset out there that supports XML translation and localization standards from the W3C but, if you’re interested in this topic, it may be a good place to start.

Published Wednesday, October 25, 2006 5:05 PM

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Comments

Posted by Phil Bowman Thursday, October 26, 2006 3:54 PM

Of course, you can go too far with localization. Because my (EDS) internet proxy is located in Germany, whenever I access google, it helpfully presents all the text in German, without an easy (i.e. labelled in English) option to change to a different locale.

Posted by Fabiano Silva Wednesday, November 01, 2006 7:00 PM

I have already worked with Icap protocol (www.i-cap.org/) and I can say that localization is a way bigger challenge, and surely, there's a great pot of gold for the ones who can solve this.

Posted by Murali Narayanan Friday, November 03, 2006 6:35 PM

I remember the days, when web developers wondering what fonts to use in their web pages, later came what style sheet to use, then comes what technology to use (there is still a debate on this one). Today, after the global revolution of web era, we have localization to worry about. I am confident, we will find a way, but the problem is we need to find the definition of localization and understand how far or deep we should dive into.

Focal points in localization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L10n are
1. Language (character set/alphabets, writing order(Left-right, right-left, horizontal, vertical), placement of menus)
2. Metrics (Currency, weights and measures, date format, telephone numbers, Postal codes, number formatting)
3. Location (Country)
4. Locale (How I want to see)

On the other hand, do you care to look at a Restaurant menu in English or French or German?, while sitting in a hotel in Paris.
what today's web page needs is not just localization but internationalization as well.

Today's approach
As you can see from billions of web pages,
Adding country code to the domain name .uk, .de, .ru
Adding language to the site en, fr, etc
Combination of both www.ibm.com/ca/en – Canada English Vs www.ibm.com/ca/fr – Canada French

Posted by Antonio Friday, December 08, 2006 1:10 PM

I have started a new project called "Free Localization"
http://www.freelocalization.com/ .
Free Localization is a collaborative translation project to help webmasters get free multilingual versions of their web site. There are many webmasters who understand English but are native speakers of another language. Thanks to the multicultural nature of its users, Free Localization effectively enables online peer to peer translations.
Users can manage, coordinate and exchange website translations by means of a complete set of online localization tools.
The service is free.

Posted by Frank fernandis Monday, July 30, 2007 4:07 AM

Computers may be fast at processing information, but they are incapable of the quantum leaps of human thinking where we reach new conclusions based on the information presented to us, as well as all of the knowledge we have stored in life.