Yes! The times they are a’changing, and for most people, being able to access software anywhere is a baseline expectation. Users now run their software apps on android phones and iOS tablets, on the move and all over the world. So, software developers now design their applications to not only target the different devices but also with an international customer base in mind. The ability to support multiple languages on both desktop and mobile platforms is now a major development trend in the software business. With Internet and cloud-based solutions, multilingual software products can now be localized and launched globally, and that means a world of revenue for software developers.

• Dialog boxes
• Menus
• Strings
• Alert Messages

In modern application development, most of the GUI components are stored in external resource files. These resource files are then compiled into binary executable files. For example, on Windows, .rc files are compiled into .dll files using a compiler such as Visual C++.

CSOFT offers complete support whatever the file format for translation. We work directly with compiled binary executable files to minimize accidental changes to formatting codes within the .rc files. In addition to translating .rc and binary program files, the CSOFT localization engineering team can also help our clients perform localized dialog box resizing and cosmetic and linguistic testing.

Online Help

Online help is one of the largest translation components for today’s localization projects. Online help files have become the medium of choice for the following reasons:

• Cost savings over printed manuals
• Updates and revisions can be easily distributed over the Internet
• Context-sensitive help allows users instant access to required information
• Users can easily navigate through the content and see related topics
• Rich media features allow for more effective product demonstrations and instructions

CSOFT is fully capable of localizing any online help system:

• HTML or XML-based help such as HTML Help and JavaHelp (.chm)
• CSOFT is fully capable of localizing any online help system:
• WinHelp 3 and 4 (.hlp and .cnt)

Our translators and help publishers are intimately familiar with various components used to build a help system such as hidden text, formatting tags, footnotes, sorted items and cascading style sheets (CSS). CSOFT uses a variety of software tools for each phase of the localization cycle: CAT tools (Trados, Transit, ForeignDesk) for translating the text, help authoring tools (Robohelp, Webworks, Help&Manual, Forehelp) for formatting and engineering the localized help, and testing tools (HelpQA, HTMLQA) for assuring the proper functionality of the help file.

Localization Testing

CSOFT offers professional localization testing in addition to our standalone software testing solutions which include internationalization (I18n), functionality, and localization testing.

Localization testing focuses primarily on a product’s cosmetic and linguistic characteristics. For example, once localized, the software needs to be verified on different platforms to see if translated options fill in the target dialog boxes and if all hotkeys use unique letters. CSOFT conducts localization testing separately for each target language using a subset of the testing scripts developed for the English version. If such testing scripts are not available, we can also work with our clients to develop a testing strategy such as going through the translated resource files to check every menu, dialog box and message.

Linguistic Testing

Our linguistic testing usually concerns the following issues:

• If all UI strings have been tested (both hardcoded and external resource strings)
• Translation consistency between menu items and dialog box titles
• If accented characters display and print properly
• Punctuation rules
• Localized text wraps, hyphenation, and sorting
• If hotkey assignment is consistent with the target operating system

Cosmetic Testing

The following is a list of items we test for cosmetic issues:

• Ensure all dialog boxes are properly resized without truncation
• Uniqueness of all hotkeys in dialog boxes and menus
• Extended characters display as expected
• Alignment of buttons, consistent sizing of screen elements and overall aesthetics
• Dialog boxes and menu display properly using regional settings