On Internationalization and Localization

At the inaugural WordCamp DC I talked about the importance of both internationalization and localization.

They have a massive impact on user acceptance and usability. I highlight existing tools, interfaces, and best practices to get internationalization right in the UIs we create and the code we write.

Learn how not to get into the White House, why English ≠ English, and why you should not use flags for language switchers.

Transcript

1. Internationalization and Localization
2. Pascal Birchler
 @swissspidy
4. "beat around the bush"
5. "talk around the hot mash"
6. Why Internationalization?
7. The process of creating a product in such a way that it can be easily adapted to specific local languages and cultures Internationalization (I18N)
8. The process of adapting a product or service to a particular language, culture, and desired local “look-and-feel.” Localization (L10N)
9. “Localization is like translation but with a cultural twist” Localization
10. Locales
11. Locale ≠ Language
12. Flag ≠ Language
14. flagsarenotlanguages.com
15. Dates
17. 12/05/2017
20. Numbers
21. 123 456.99 123,456.99 123’456.99 123.456,99
22. Right to Left Icons Symbols Puns Jokes Legal Currencies Numbers Formal/Informal Support Units
23. Dealing with Locales
24. Locale Detection
25. Accept-Language: es, en-gb;q=0.8, en;q=0.7
27. Internationalization in User Interfaces
28. Symbols ✅ ⭕
29. Personal Names
30. David Lloyd George
31. Lang Leyen Little Lovett von der
32. Implications for Field Design
37. Fonts
39. Left-to-Right Right-to-Left
43. Internationalization in Development
45. String Extraction
46. function translateIt( $str ) { // Do something. } __( 'Foo' ); // ✓ translateIt( 'Bar' ); // ☓ __( 'Baz' ); // ✓
47. $foo = 'Hello World'; __( $foo ); // ☓
48. Plural Forms
49. if ( $num == 1 ) printf( __( '%d item' ), $num ) else printf( __( '%d items' ), $num )
50. printf( _n( '%d item', '%d items', $num ), $num )
51. printf(_n('%d item', '%d items', 1), 1) printf(_n('%d item', '%d items', 2), 2) printf(_n('%d item', '%d items', 5), 5)
52. Resources
53. developer.wordpress.org
54. Localization Management
55. w3.org/internationalization
56. cldr.unicode.org
57. To Sum Things Up
58. 1. Don’t make assumptions 2. Understand cultural values 3. i18n from the beginning 4. Don’t reinvent the wheel
59. Further Reading
60. Thank You.