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Globalization

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Globalization is the process of designing an application to function in multiple locales. A locale specifies a country and a language. The process involves the following:

  • Identifying the locales that must be supported.
  • Designing features that support those locales.
  • Developing functionality that works equally well in all of the supported locales.

Globalization requirements should be included in specifications and test cases. Use pilot languages to ensure that any globalization work is designed, developed, and tested at the same time as all other core product features. A product is localized for a pilot language before being localized into other languages.

Use the following checklist to confirm that an application meets globalization requirements:

  • Contains core features that are available for all locales or supports alternative features that are equally compelling for specific locales.
  • Contains features that are identical for all locales or supports alternative features that accommodate locale-specific needs.
  • Meets a quality bar that applies equally for all supported locales.
  • Provides input methods for necessary scripts. A script is a collection of characters for displaying written text. One script can be used for several different languages.
  • Provides font and text display functionality to properly display necessary scripts.
  • Handles character encoding for documents, Web pages, and e-mail.
  • Displays the appropriate format for date and time, numbers, and currencies for all supported locales.
  • Correctly displays phone numbers, addresses, and names for all supported locales. For the display of names, the application design does not assume that the first name is always first, that there is a space between the first and last names, or that a title (Mr., Mrs., Prof., and so on) is always placed at the end of the name.
  • Provides sorting, filter, and find features that work as expected for all supported locales.

See Also

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Last updated on Friday, April 22, 2005

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