Achieving High Visibility on the Global Web - How to Prepare Your Web Site for Translation

Is there a demand for your products or services outside of your domestic market? If so, how are you marketing to this group of potential customers? How do you overcome language and cultural barriers? Web Localization, which is the process of translating your web site into your customers' languages and adapting to local markets, is an essential step toward establishing a market presence.

Iler, Huiping. WTB Language Group (2005). Articles>Web Design>Localization

Review: Beyond Borders: Web Globalization Strategies

If your Web site is not designed for or understood by a global audience, you are excluding an estimated 200 million people, according to John Yunker in Beyond Borders: Web Globalization Strategies.

Staples, Jeff. Usability Interface (2004). Resources>Reviews>Web Design>Localization

Comparing the Usability of Three Dual-Language School Websites

This study evaluated the usability of three websites for Spanish-English Dual Language K-8 schools. Twelve participants (6 parents, 6 teachers) reviewed and performed tasks on the three public school websites. Site usability was determined through both objective and subjective measures, including task completion time, first-click, total number of pages visited, task success, perceived task difficulty, user satisfaction, and overall ranked preference. Results indicated that one site was preferred more than the others by both user groups and resulted in more efficient search behavior. Clear navigation, link terminology, and proper use of both languages were found to be critical factors contributing to the sites’ usability.

Naidu, Shivashankar, Veronica D. Hinkle and Sav Shrestha. Usability News (2007). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Localization

Creating Multilingual Websites - Part 1

Extend the existing globalization capabilities of .NET to create flexible and powerful multilgual web sites. First, create a custom ResourceManager, and then create custom localized-capable server controls to easily deploy multilingual functionality.

Seguin, Karl. Code Project, The (2004). Articles>Web Design>Localization>ASP

Creating Multilingual Websites - Part 2

Extend the existing globalization capabilities of .NET to create flexible and powerful multilgual web sites. First, create a custom ResourceManager, and then create custom localized-capable server controls to easily deploy multilingual functionality.

Seguin, Karl. Code Project, The (2004). Articles>Web Design>Localization

Creating Multilingual Websites - Part 3

Extend the existing globalization capabilities of .NET to create flexible and powerful multilgual web sites. This third part won't focus on the fundamental but rather enhancements to what we've already covered.

Seguin, Karl. Code Project, The (2005). Articles>Web Design>Localization>ASP

Cross Language Information Retrieval

We sometimes refer to our globally interconnected information infrastructure as the World-Wide-Web. At present, however, it is far less than that. For someone who reads only English, it is presently the English-Wide-Web.

Youssef, Moustafa A. Universal Usability (2001). Design>Language>Localization>Web Design

The Culture of China's Internet    

With China fast overtaking the United States as the world's largest online market, Rogers provides helpful information on how technical communicators can tailor their Web sites to appeal to Chinese visitors.

Rogers, Kevin. Intercom (2008). Articles>Web Design>Localization>China

Cybermarketing in English and German: Observations on the Multilingual Web Site of a Finnish Company  

Cybermarketing is a recent aspect of marketing strategy, which involves establishing company presence in cyberspace, in other words on the World Wide Web, or on the Internet. The instrument used in cybermarketing is the company web site - or the company home page as it was first called. The company web site is, likewise, a new concept; the first, most innovative business enterprises only established their web site presence in the second half of the 1990s. Indeed, business professionals have been slower than academics in adopting the communication potentials incorporated in electronic media on the whole, including the World Wide Web and the Internet.

Yli-Jokipii, Hilkka M. Hogskolen i Ostfold (2001). Careers>Web Design>Localization>E Commerce

The Dangers of Publishing Your Website in Another Language

Publishing your website in another language is like managing a brand new website. It demands people who are expert in writing and editing in that language. The standard of English on the Web, for example, is often poor, even for those whose native language it is. It can be embarrassingly bad for websites publishing English as a foreign language.

McGovern, Gerry. WTB Language Group. Articles>Web Design>Localization

Five Ways to Use Web Site Translation to Help the Bottom Line

In what aspects does the global web impact business? How can we use it to embark on new opportunities and save cost on running our existing business?

Iler, Huiping. WTB Language Group (2005). Articles>Web Design>Localization

Free Website Localization  

"Free Website Localization" is a collaborative translation project to help webmasters get free multilingual versions of their web site. There are many webmasters who understand English but are native speakers of another language. Thanks to the multicultural nature of its users, Free Localization effectively enables online peer to peer translations. Users can manage, coordinate and exchange website translations by means of a complete set of online localization tools. The service is free.

Vilei, Antonio. Free Localization (2005). Resources>Language>Localization>Web Design

Going Global Gracefully: Strategies for Building the Global Gateway

The world speaks many languages, and so do an increasing number of Web sites. Yet with these languages and locales come a host of challenges for the Web teams who manage them, challenges that are not likely to go away. As companies 'localize' their Web sites for new markets and languages, they run into the navigational challenges of directing users to their localized Web sites. For instance, if your site offers a dozen localized Web sites, how do you ensure that users arrive at their intended sites without getting confused or lost along the way?  This article presents strategies for building a global gateway. A global gateway is much more than a 'select country' pull-down menu on the home page. It's an all-encompassing term for the devices you use to direct users to their locale- and language-specific sites. And, as you'll soon see, there are many ways to build a gateway.

Yunker, John E. WebWord (2003). Design>Web Design>International>Localization

How to Architect Sites Across Cultures Without Losing Your Mind

Ever since I started working formally as an information architect, I've clung to the belief that there's a universal set of conditions that we're trying to achieve. But what I've slowly begun to believe over my time working here in Japan is that there is simply no such thing as a universal good.

Greenfield, Adam. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>International>Localization

How to Localise Your Website: A UK Perspective on Usability

It's often said that a common language divides America and England. If an American says "I'm mad about my flat", there is something wrong with his car. If an Englishman says it, he likes his apartment. If the Americans and the English can't communicate without ambiguity, what happens when non-English speakers use your site?

Travis, David. WebWord (2001). Design>Web Design>Localization

International Web Usability

They don't call it the World Wide Web for nothing. A single click can take you to a site on another continent and a business can attract customers from hundreds of countries without ever going to a Frankfurt trade show where they book you into a hotel two hours down the autobahn.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1996). Design>Web Design>International>Localization

Internationalization and Authoring for Multilingual Web Pages  

Internationalization--how does it differ from globalization, localization, and all the other terms commonly found in the context of preparing products (for example, web pages) for the global marketplace? It is becoming an increasingly competitive advantage as corporations striving to compete globally realize its necessity. The issue is not to effect it but to effect it properly. Note, however, that internationalization is not limited to a company’s web site but also includes its products and software, related documentation, and marketing material and should be viewed as an integrated whole.

Adams, Cathleen. STC Proceedings (1999). Design>Web Design>Localization>International

Internationalize Your Apps with XSLT

To meet the needs of users worldwide, today's Web applications often require internationalization. In this article, you'll see an approach for client-side internationalization based on XSLT. This solution only requires that both the data to be internationalized and the server stores are in XML.

Gianfagna, Leonida, Stefano Borghetti and Antonio Perrone. IBM (2008). Articles>Web Design>Localization>XSL

Lessons in Internationalization  

By examining some of the mistakes his company made while implementing an e-commerce Web site, Larson demonstrates the complexity of internationalization.

Intercom (2004). Design>Web Design>Localization>E Commerce

Localizing for Mobile Devices: A Primer

The mobile world and localization: designing for mobile communications; small screens; screens of various types; keyboards versus styluses; operating systems for mobile devices; proper internationalization is necessary.

LISA (2001). Articles>Language>Localization>Web Design

Multilingual Web Sites: Reaching International Clients

You can add to customer satisfaction by letting customers know you are committed to the market in their country, when you provide information in their own language. You can increase sales because buyers can find your company Web site; learn about your products in their own language, get connected to the nearest outlet, or place orders online.

McClure, Peggy. Boston Broadside (1997). Design>Web Design>Localization

Multilingual Webmaster

MultilingualWebmaster.com was created to provide an open forum for developers and managers of multilingual web sites. Our goal is share information and innovation and promote 'best practices' in multilingual web site design.

MultilingualWebmaster.com. Resources>Language>Localization>Web Design

My Computer Doesn't Understand Me: Automated Translation Tools

Can a machine that automatically renders true translations from one language to another become a reality?

Liddiard, S.D. Writer's Block (1998). Design>Language>Web Design>Localization