So I'm ready to test-drive Windows Vista. What next?
Many of our Windows Vista beta testers contact us excited to be test-driving the beta but wondering what to look for. I thought it might be nice to share here the test cases that we give interested beta testers. If you try these test cases and you have feedback for us on any aspect of our basic NLS/language enablement support, please let me know either in the comments section here or by sending me email directly.
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NLS data testing for Beta partners
This is a collection of usage scenarios that beta testers might like to try in order to verify that their locale data is correct.
Fonts
If you do one thing: Look at sample representative strings and longer pieces of text in Notepad in Vista (or in XP with ClearType turned on) at 8pt (Office UI) and 9pt (Vista UI). Are the strings readable?
If you do more: For Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek, the font to look at is Segoe UI. Look at all four styles (the italic, bold and bold italic as well as the regular). Identify any bad character shapes, or unacceptable clipping of diacritics. If you can do more, also check out strings using Microsoft Sans Serif and MS UI Gothic.
In Vista, one good way to test the UI font is by creating/renaming folders with strings set in the relevant languages.
Keyboards
If you do one thing: Make sure that you can select the keyboards that are important for your locale. Type using the keyboard you have selected and make sure that the output matches what you expect from the layout.
If you do more: Verify that the keyboards for your locale match the standards that you expect to find.
Regional Options
If you do one thing: Open up Regional Options and change your user locale. Is your locale on the list? Is it in the form that you expect? Are the sample data displayed what you expect?
If you do more: Click customize in Regional Options. Are the default values what you expect?
Are you able to edit and save these values?
Change your user locale (Standards and Formats) setting and save settings. Does your formatting change as you expect it to (e.g. in Windows calendar)?
Are the date formats that you expect available? Are there any errors in month or day day names?
If you speak a language that uses genitive forms for month names, are the month names displayed correctly in date strings?
Open up your Windows calendar. Does it look like you expect it to?
Sorting
If you do one thing: Create several filenames using characters from your language. Do they sort properly in Explorer?
If you do more: Create a list of words using characters from your language in Word or Excel. Sort the list. Does it sort properly?
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If you try any of this stuff and have feedback for us on what we're doing right and not right, please let me know!
Comments
Anonymous
August 01, 2006
Hi Kieran,
Here is my Bulgarian Locale feedback about Windows Vista Beta 2 (5384.4). I've used the Microsoft Locale Builder Beta tool to view the data. So, the feedback:
Windows Vista Beta 2 --> MUST BE
Numbers
Number Symbols
Positive infinity symbol: + безкрайност --> +∞
Negative infinity symbol: - безкрайност --> -∞
Not a number (NaN): NaN --> НеН
Currency
Names and Symbols
Currency native name: България лев --> лев
Currency symbol: BGL --> BGN
Time
Long Time Pattern: HH:mm 'ч.' --> HH:mm:ss 'ч.' OR HH:mm:ss tt 'ч.' (where AM and PM are zero strings '', as they're now)
Short Time Pattern: HH:mm --> HH:mm 'ч.'
H:mm --> H:mm 'ч.'
Time Formating
Duration time pattern: HH:mm:ss --> H ч. m мин. s сек.
Gregorian month names
Month names
Abbreviated month names ян --> ян.
февр --> февр.
март --> март
май --> май
юни --> юни
юли --> юли
авг --> авг.
септ --> септ.
окт --> окт.
ноември --> ноем.
дек --> дек.
Genetive month names ян --> ян.
февр --> февр.
март --> март
май --> май
юни --> юни
юли --> юли
авг --> авг.
септ --> септ.
окт --> окт.
ноември --> ноем.
дек --> дек.
Day names
Day names
Abbreviated day names пон --> пн
вт --> вт
ср --> ср
четв --> чт
пет --> пт
съб --> сб
нед --> нд
Font signature
OEM
OEM code pages: - --> MIK, the REAL Bulgarian OEM code page !!! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIK_Code_page)
866 --> 866
855 --> 855
Regards,
Ivan petrov.Anonymous
August 01, 2006
One more mistake, I'm really sorry:
Duration time pattern: HH:mm:ss --> H 'ч.' m 'мин.' s 'сек.'
Regards,
Ivan.Anonymous
August 01, 2006
One more mistake, I'm really sorry:
Duration time pattern: HH:mm:ss --> H 'ч.' m 'мин.' s 'сек.'
Regards,
Ivan.Anonymous
August 01, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
August 01, 2006
Hi again Kieran,
I saw that you've already moderated my posts, so thank you for that!
I'll beg you if it's not a problem to replace the entries from the first post with the etries listed below and then delete the 2. and 3. posts an leave only the 1. and 4. posts. Thank you in advance. I was so tired last nigh, so I made a couple of mistakes in my posts. I'm really sorry again. So here are the entries that I would like to change in the first post:
Not a number (NaN): NaN --> НеЧ, which cames from 'Не е Число' which means exactly Not a number
Currency native name: България лев --> лев, OR български лев, but the first one is exactly the native name of the currency as you ask every Bulgarian would tell you!
Duration time pattern: HH:mm:ss --> H 'ч.' m 'мин.' s 'сек.'
Thank you in advance!
Please, also delete this post after making the replacements.
With best regards,
Ivan Petrov.Anonymous
November 24, 2006
I found that even in the version of Microsoft Windows Vista Beta 2 and testing for Final release, the Phonetic keyboard is not absolutely correct and 5-6 letters are absolutely messed. I dunno whethter others have met some problem, however "ь" were supposed to be "ю"; "ю" were supposed to be "ч" and reciprocaly. So any fixes or ideas how to fix that on my own are welcome.Anonymous
January 08, 2007
Well, in the interim,MSKLC provides a great workaround, since it lets you modify an existing layout according to your specifications. If you would like to send me the modified layout detailing your suggestions, I'll make sure that it gets a proper review!Anonymous
March 16, 2007
There is already a "Legacy" Phonetic layout available @ http://www.geocities.com/stanio/kbdbu/phonetic.html P.S. The author have even given the source so it can be further modified ...Anonymous
June 08, 2009
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