Hi Derek,
I should ask this question of the list, just to see if anyone has found an effective way of working with Localized (multiple-language) projects.
Most of the common approaches have been described by others; so I would only add:
* Saving all program text and prompts in a different text file for each language means only the text pertinent to the currently-selected language is loaded in RAM
* Storing language text & prompts in a text file in line-per-line format means your application can support _any_ language for which a text file can be created, not just the languages you build in pre release.
* If text is stored in a line-per-line format, it is a simple task to display each line in turn to a translator, who then types the same line in the new language in a field below it. Once all lines are translated, the application can immediately change languages by loading text from the new file.
* Any translation scheme must also deal with formatting numbers, dates, and currency amounts differently based on system preferences (actually, IMO even a single-language program should present dates, numbers, and amounts formatted as specified by the user to the OS).
* I strongly advocate the use of icons (supplemented with tool tips, if you will) instead of label text to avoid spacing issues. This is especially useful for labels above columnar tables: the text may be x characters long in one language and, say, 5*x characters in another language; but the column heading width remains constant without lots of empty space in one instance or incomprehensible abbreviation or truncation in the other.
Normally, I would refer you to the Serendipity Library/SDB download for working examples of all these points; however the old download went down with Andre Garzia's old web site, and it is not my intention to update it until the revisions I am working on are further tested and bundled for distribution. If you'd like to explore this further, contact me off-list.
Rob Cozens CCW, Serendipity Software Company "And I, which was two fooles, do so grow three; Who are a little wise, the best fooles bee." from "The Triple Foole" by John Donne (1572-1631) _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list [email protected] Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
