Globalization in Multimedia Development

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Globalization in Multimedia Development
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Globalization in Multimedia Development

• The development of W W W led to rise of the
  concept of global village, which the whole
  world links together by the internet.
• This concept is still far from the reality.
• Issues raised languages cultural difference
  made things complex, especially websites.

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• Globalization becomes one of the practices to
  solve the problems
• The term Globalization means differently when
  refers to business, politics, culture and many
  other aspects.
• In multimedia development, globalization is
  generalized as the process of adaptation.

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• Web sites and other multimedia applications, are
  adapted linguistically and functionally.
• The expected result is to deliver contents to
  more than one groups of audience with different
  language preferences.
• The process of Globalization usually involves 2
  main elements
• Internationalization
• Localization

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Internationalization

• Internationalization(i18n) is the process of
  designing a software or Web application to handle
  different linguistic and cultural conventions
  without additional engineering.
  internationalization involves
• design of the User Interface (UI) is flexible and
  neutral
• separation of language and cultural data from the
  source code.
• relevant character set
• regional standards
• text embedded in graphics is localizable.

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Internationalization

• Ideally, internationalization should take place
  during the very early stage of project
  development
• Thus, reduces time and cost along the way when
  more versions are required to be produced to
  fulfill the international expansion needs
• Your client may ask you to produce Japanese,
  Korean, Spanish or German version website
  sometime after you set up a local version
  website.
• Without thinking of internationalization,
  eventually, you may found difficulties to adapt
  the original version in both technical aspect and
  content translation.

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Localization

• Localization (L10N) is the process of adapting a
  website to the requirements of a target locale.
  It refers to the translation of strings within
  the Web site so that the user sees the correct
  language.
• A locale refers to a set of standards, rules and
  data specific to a language and geographical
  area. E.g., a French Unicode Locale will include
  regional definitions for currency, the Euro
  symbol, date, time, numerical notation and text
  messages. An Asian Locale (e.g. a Chinese
  locale), will also include input methods and
  dictionary editing definitions.

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Localization

• UI design
• Localize all content, readable messages, icons,
  buttons in the target user's language (both
  written and non-written).
• We also need to consider
• Text space extra space may added to dialog
  boxes, control buttons, menu, etc.
• Cultural-dependent or ambiguous symbols body
  parts (e.g., hand gestures), religious symbols,
  graphics with more than one meaning and cultural-
  specific symbols. As they may lead to
  misunderstandings in cross-cultural situation, we
  have to use them carefully.

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Localization

• Character set
• A character set is the mapping of the characters
  of a script into a set of binary codes.
• In order to represent a language, an appropriate
  character set support is needed.
• For English, ASCII character set should be
  enough, but not those European languages require
  accented characters.
• Therefore, specific character sets are developed
• Double-byte character set (DBCS) is a codeset
  that uses one or two bytes. It is used for Asian
  languages such as Japanese, Chinese, and Korean
• Unicode is a universal character 16-bit codeset.
  It includes most alphabetic characters and
  symbols used in nearly every language.

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Case Study 1

• Nike
• Nikes business covers over 140 countries.
• Its website offers 13 languages.
• The website design not only translate text into
  different languages, but also adapt design ideas
  considering the cultural context.
• http//www.nike.com
• Even this is a comparatively successful example
  of web globalization, there are still lots of
  languages cultures need attention Russia,
  Middle East, Sweden, Hebrew, etc.

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Overview of internet users
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• The Internet was designed to be global, but not
  necessarily multilingual.
• When it was originally developed, its primary
  purpose was to enable English speakers to
  communicate with other English speakers
• As soon as the internet became a global
  phenomenon, non-English speakers began using the
  Internet to communicate in their own languages.
• The research firm IDC projects by 2003, 36 of
  all Internet users will prefer to use a language
  other than English,
• A multilingual web site becomes main focus in the
  creative and production process.

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• Case Study 2
• McDonalds
• McDonald's has restaurant locations in 118
  countries
• The global website offers around 40 choices of
  locations/countries
• http//www.mcdonalds.com
• But the Gateway (homepage) contains lots of menus
  and messages in English.
• What if viewers from Saudi Arabia only know
  Arabic languages, or people from Greece only know
  Greek? They can't even get into the part in their
  own languages in the very beginning.

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• How to prepare a global website
• A globalized website usually contains an
  internationalized master or template design, a
  homepage or gateway leading to several localized
  versions.
• Text in graphics
• If possible, the use of text in graphics is
  discouraged.
• Some localizable graphics consist of text on top
  of some graphic design.
• Keep a well-documented, layered source file with
  details of the fonts and colors used.
• Keep in mind that text within the graphic is
  probably longer for localized languages than for
  English so allow room for the text to expand.
• As an alternative, use the graphic as a
  background and position the text on top of it.

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• Symbols and other design elements
• When designing the website, try to avoid
  culture-dependent symbols that are not clear to
  an international audience.
• There are also many symbols that may have
  different meanings in different cultures. If
  there are any questions regarding the hidden
  meaning of some symbols, it is better to use
  words instead.
• As a general rule, the following should be
  avoided in any graphics used
• Graphics with multiple meanings
• Religious symbols such as stars, crosses etc.
• Hand gestures or body parts
• Shapes that are tied to culture (e.g. stop signs,
  sports, mailboxes etc.)

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• Locale-specific contentSome of the items would
  need to be changed
• Date formats (including calendar settings and
  day/month names)
• Time formats (12-hour vs. 24-hour clock etc.)
• Currency formats and other monetary-related
  information (tax rate, postage, etc.)
• Number formats (decimal separator, thousand
  separator etc.)
• Fonts (names, sizes etc.)
• For fonts, it is best practice to use Cascading
  Style Sheets (CSS) whenever possible. CSS allows
  fonts to be changed for all the pages in one
  place, and there will be fewer tags within the
  codes.

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• Address formats (postal codes, states etc.)
• Name formats (first name middle name last
  name vs. surname name)
• Telephone number formats
• Units of measure
• Paper sizes
• Sorting rules (different alphabetical orders,
  stroke counts, etc.)

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• Sort order
• Sort order is not the same for all languages,
  particularly for languages that do not use the
  Western alphabet.
• In Swedish, for example, some extended characters
  (e.g. å) get sorted after the letter Z.
• In many Asian writings, characters are comprised
  by brushstrokes.
• We need to find a way to automatically sort the
  items, or allow the local end-user to personally
  sort the list.
• To build an internationalized sorting system is
  still a very difficult task.

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• Data
• When localizing a site, one of the first
  decisions to make is what character encoding to
  use.
• It is necessary to ensure that the data displays
  correctly to the end user
• Any data sent to and from a form or database
  maintains data integrity.
• Web site components could include databases, form
  elements, objects, JavaScript, DHTML, ActiveX
  controls, etc.
• Each component should be considered carefully.
• If the HTML has been encoded natively, how will
  the data be transformed so that the user can read
  it on the Web site?
• It may be necessary to use Unicode.
• XML is also a format to handle this situation.

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• Code content
• If there is localizable text within the Code tier
  of the site, ensure that it is commented as much
  as possible.
• Localizers, the person who translate the text
  content from source language into target
  language. They are usually good in translation
  skills, but not programming skills.
• The easier it is for the localizer to identify
  the localizable text, the better.
• If the Web site contains scripting that needs to
  be localized, hire a localizer with sufficient
  experience so theres less chance of
  accidentally changes the script of the Web
  site.Web resources - the REZ fileA solution
  for localizable text in code can be done in REZ
  file.Essentially, translatable text is placed
  in a text file that is included in the
  server-side scripting file.
• A statement likelt!--include
  file"text/abc.rez"--gt

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• Code content
• The basic format of these REZ files istype
  id quoted text
• type is optional
• id is a programmer's identifier
• quoted text is either single or double quoted
  text for translation
• the REZ files are kept in a text folder off the
  main website folders.

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• Pre-translation testing
• Pre-translation testing is the process of
  exercising the site's user interface,
  localizability, and site stability before
  localization.
• This includes
• Include some extended characters (e.g. é, ñ or ö)
  or Asian characters
• Increase the length of the terms and paragraphs
• During the design phase, run a prototype site to
  ensure that the design is flexible to be
  translated.
• Test generated data or to ensure that the
  controls can display extended characters
  correctly.
• Pre-translation testing can be run at different
  stages of the project
• It is to identify and resolve international
  issues without wasting the time of the localizer
• Pre-translation testing can also save money, and
  time to market by avoiding the need to fix bugs
  later in the project. This can also ensure the
  overall integrity of the website .
• Pre-translation testing can't test everything.
• Testing should be a continuous effort throughout
  the whole production process. There are always
  new issues for each localized version.

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• Yahoo customized its website into 23 locates
• Each website offer totally different content, but
  under the same protocol.
• http//hk.yahoo.com/

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Localization kits

• Why write localization kits?
• To ensure that the Web site is localized
  correctly,
• Provide instructions for the localizers, testers,
  and engineers.
• Localizers need information on what to localize,
  for which audience they localize and, in most
  cases, what not to touch in the files.
• Who to write the localization kits for?
• localizers,
• testers
• engineers.
• project program managers.
• For example, Project managers will be interested
  in an overview, the number of files and the
  quantity of words to localize. Engineers would
  prefer the instructions to be to the point and in
  their lingo.

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Localization kits

• How to write localization kits
• Prepare the project (internationalization)
• Research specifications
• Identify the scope (file list, word count etc.)
• Identify the target audience
• Write instructions for each specific group of
  people working on the project

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• Notes that help you to organize Localization kit
• 1. Are you prepared to provide multilingual
  support?
• If you set up a site in another language, you can
  expect to receive email queries and possibly
  phone calls from prospects and customers in that
  language. Will you be ready to handle them? You
  would at least want in place internal staff or
  distributors, or possibly an arrangement with an
  outside agency, to provide that language support.
  
• 2. What language should you translate into?
• If you're unsure of an area to target, one
  approach is to review your Web site use reports
  to determine whether a particular country or
  region represents a high number of visitors to
  your site.
• 3. Multilingual sites might require specific
  programming requirements.
• If you plan to support languages such as Japanese
  or Chinese, program in Unicode at the outset. The
  Unicode standard can support the scripts used by
  all languages. An additional feature of Unicode
  is that it supports languages that read from
  right to left, such as Hebrew and Arabic.

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• 4. If you offer several languages, permit users
  to select their language preference.
• for example, "English" or "Deutsch."
• Another approach is to configure your site so
  that the Web browser automatically detects what
  users have set as the default language in their
  Web configurations.
• If the default language isn't available, the
  browser can display a message asking which other
  available language is preferred.
• Even if your site automatically can determine the
  default language, its better you still provide
  the user a way to switch to another language.
• 5. Page formats and content might vary from
  country to country.
• How dates, time and numbers are displayed often
  varies from country to country. For example, the
  number 1,234.56 in the United States would be
  written as 1.234,56 in the Netherlands.
• 6. Prepare to adapt the colors for your site.
• Colors can take on a specific significance in
  different countries.

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• 7. You might need to reformat your navigation
  bars.
• Certain languages, such as Spanish, often have
  words that are longer than their English
  equivalent. Thus, the size of the navigation bars
  -- the row of buttons or text that enables users
  to select specific pages on a Web site. The
  formatting for your site needs to be able to
  support those changes.
• 8. Register with foreign search engines.
• Sites such as Google and Yahoo offer search
  engines to seek out Internet pages or documents
  based on specified keywords. But if you want
  overseas customers to more readily find you Web
  site, then remember to register with local search
  engines, such as Siamguru.com for Thailand.
  Research available search engines in your target
  countries, and register your translated site.
• 9. Test your Web site.
• Test for usability before you launch your site,
  preferably working with locals in your targeted
  market.
• Also test your site on a non-U.S. operating
  system, such as the Microsoft Windows versions
  for Chinese, France, etc.

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Case Study 3

• Hong Kong Tourist Board
• Over 150 choices of location / residence. But not
  necessary in their particular official languages.
• Content varies a bit according to different
  language versions.
• http//www.discoverhongkong.com/