Interface Hall of Shame
Globalization Tips
- Recognize that language can greatly effect the length of text. For
example, "Edit" becomes "Bearbeiten" in German, and "Sort Ascending"
becomes "Lajittele nousevassa järjestyksessä" in Finnish.
- Utilize user preferences for the formatting and display of dates,
numbers, time, currency, etc.
- Be consistent in your terminology. In addition to being good
interface design, it also makes translation easier.
- Avoid abbreviations, acronyms, idiomatic expressions, words that
have multiple meanings, and slang.
- Recognize that humor is very culture dependent, and typically does
not translate well to other languages.
- Avoid making comparative statements that position your product
against the competition. In some countries this type of positioning is
illegal.
- Keep bitmaps simple. The more complex they are, the more difficult
they are to decipher.
- Avoid the use of letters in bitmaps and toolbar icons. The letters
may not exist in the target language, and will often no longer reflect
the intended function.
- Avoid pictures of sports equipment, utensils, national monuments, or
any symbols that might be unfamiliar to members of other cultures.
- Recognize that the meanings attached to symbols is often culture
dependent. For example, an owl is interpreted as a symbol of wisdom and
knowledge in the United States, but is associated with witchcraft and
black magic in certain Central American cultures.
- Be cautious with representations of animals, religious and
mythological symbols, national emblems, colors, people (especially
racial, cultural, or gender stereotypes), hand gestures, and body
language, which may be misinterpreted or may offend users in other
countries.
- Avoid using graphics that represent holidays or seasons, such as
Christmas trees, pumpkins, or snow.
- Be culturally sensitive when choosing sounds for use in your
program. While some users may find it helpful to hear a beep when they
make a mistake, users in Japan may find a beep embarrassing, in that it
calls attention to their mistakes.
- Avoid run-time concatenation of strings. Because of differences in
syntax and sentence construction, concatenated strings often cannot be
properly translated into other languages.