HOW TO PREPARE YOUR WEB SITE FOR LOCALIZATION

This article appeared in the October 13th, 2000 Issue of

	WebProNews (http://www.webpronews.com)

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	HOW TO PREPARE YOUR WEB SITE FOR LOCALIZATION

			by Myriam Telles

Full localization of  your English-language web site is a complex
process that involves translating the site into your target 
audience's language as well as adapting its contents, style, 
graphics, and cultural conventions - such as currencies, dates,
units of measurement, etc.

Although full localization is both complex and expensive, the process
can be described in various steps and can be modified to fit your
company's budget.  This article focuses on the first step involved
in localizing your English-language web site, called 
internationalization, which includes developing or modifying your web
site design and content so that it is  user-friendly for both:

1. your international visitors who speak English, and 
2. future translation and localization requirements. Some companies
   with restricted budgets stop at the first step or go on to do
   only limited translation and localization.

After consulting with various experts at Irvine-based Global Language
Solutions, we developed the following set of pointers for webmasters
to consider when creating or modifying an English-language web site
in order to adapt it to international audiences and prepare it for
localization.

CODE STRUCTURE: 
-- Webmasters need to decide whether Unicode or Double-Byte Character
Set code should be used.  The latter code is used when localizing
web sites into Japanese, Chinese, and Korean languages where 
single-byte code can't represent the large character sets used in
those languages.

If the selected code is a double-byte character set, the character
set used for each language should be specified in the HTML source
code.  For example, for web sites which will be translated into
Simplified Chinese, the most common encoding is "Big5", and for
Japanese sites - "shift_jis" is used.

-- Keep in mind that the translation process is independent of the
locale settings (locale is a collection of rules and data specific
to a language and/or a geographic area).  When developing or 
modifying a site, limit the code to one locale format, or write 
separate applications for different locales (for example, if you
have a very active e-commerce site with users from many different 
countries).

Design your site so that users from foreign countries can select
different systems of measure, time, date, and currency formats. 
This will make it easier for foreign visitors to understand and
navigate your site and will encourage them to use your site again.

-- Reduce translator errors by separating web site code from the 
strings of translatable text used on your web site.  This will 
prevent translators from making errors such as omitting some of
the text that needs translation, or from translating the code
itself.  Also, place the text that requires translation into a 
database, a separate file, or in a certain location within a file.

For example, large dynamic web sites are based on existing databases
whose content is constantly changing.  In such cases, the text can
be exported from the databases into a different format (HTML or 
Excel) and then given to translators, thus ensuring the translation
of the correct strings of text.

TEXT/ CONTENT DEVELOPMENT:   
-- Write the English content for your site in an unambiguous fashion.
Try to avoid cultural references whenever possible.  Keep in mind
that it is especially difficult to translate humor, colloquialisms,
or ethnic and historical references.  In most cases such sections
will have to be rewritten for international audiences.

-- Keep your terminology consistent throughout the text, especially
when referring to the same concepts in different areas of your web
site.  Use industry-standard terminology instead of technical jargon,
otherwise, it may be confusing for translators or foreign visitors.
Consistency and uniformity of text are essential elements of an
accurate and time-efficient localization process.

-- Most languages take up more space than English.  Therefore, 
provide an additional 20 to 30 percent additional space for future
text expansion. This is especially important for small text blocks
(such as cells in a table) and short phrases (such as company 
slogans).  For example, in Asian, Eastern European, and Middle 
Eastern languages text may expand, and require more room, because
of the necessary changes in font type, size, and even text direction
(as with Arabic).

GRAPHICS FILES:
-- Store all graphics in special folders, separate from HTML and 
other files.  This will make it easier to analyze the site for 
localization.

-- Indicate which graphics contain text and, thus, will require
localization.  If you don't do this, each graphics file will need to
be checked by the localization consultant, which is time consuming
and may add costs to the completion of your localization project.
When designing your web site, leave the text outside of the graphics
whenever possible.

-- Do not "flatten" GIF and JPEG images that contain text and/or may
require modifications by translators.  If an image has layers of 
text, art, and borders, it is possible to resize the graphics, 
translate the text and reinsert it into a layered file.  However,
in flat files this is more difficult.

-- Leave sufficient space in graphics to accommodate for text 
expansion. Provide enough white space in text frames so that 
translated strings of text will be able to fit into them.

-- Always provide a list of fonts, or provide the actual fonts used
in each of your graphics to your localization consultant.  Matching
fonts (especially non-standard, uncommon fonts) burns up labor hours
and can be easily avoided.  Provide the fonts in a separate folder,
along with your site archive on a CD-ROM or zip disk.

After you've prepared your web site for localization, the next
step involves the actual translation process.

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Myriam Telles (mailto:mdtelles@ix.netcom.com) owns Aim for Success,
an agency providing original content, marketing and public relations 
services in English, Spanish and Chinese to web sites and 
brick-and-mortar companies. She is also Head Writer of the Global 
Communicator, an electronic newsletter that covers international 
web site creation, marketing, translation, localization and news.  
Global Communicator is published by Global Language Solutions 
(http://www.globallanguages.com) which is a premier web site 
translation and localization company.
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