ITP 342 Mobile App Dev. Localization

Transcription

1 ITP 342 Mobile App Dev Localization

2 Build Apps for the World The App Store and Mac App Store are available in over 150 countries, support 40 languages, and have the ability to handle international payment, currency conversion, taxation, and global distribution. This makes it easy for you to expand your business by selling apps to millions of users around the world. ios and OS X are multilingual operating systems designed to work for users in their language of choice. Both operating systems are built on technologies which make using and localizing multilingual apps easy, including high quality extended fonts, support for typographic features, language specific input methods and auto-correction dictionaries, and keyboards that are customized for more than 50 languages. 2

3 Build Apps for the World Additionally, app bundles make it easy to store and load localized representations of resources, extensive Unicode support allows you to work with text from any language, powerful texthandling technologies provided by Cocoa and Cocoa Touch let your app display, lay out, and edit text in many languages. And Auto Layout in Cocoa automatically adjusts the dimensions and layouts of views, practically removing the need to hand-tweak user interfaces for different languages. 3

4 Global Audience How to prepare your app for a global audience. Reach more users around the world by taking a phased approach to internationalization and localization. 1. Localize your metadata in the App Store. 2. Internationalize your app. 3. Translate the User Interface. 4. Promote your app in local markets. 4

5 Localize Your Metadata The easiest place to start is translating your app description for each of the countries in which you offer apps. Customers are more likely to read about your app if it s in their native language. It just makes it easier for more people to learn about your app. For details on localizing metadata, keywords, and screenshots, review the itunes Connect Developer Guide. /LanguagesUtilities/Conceptual/iTunesConnect_Guid e/chapters/creatingitunesconnectrecord.html 5

6 Internationalize Your App Structure your app to support localized content, by taking steps like: Creating separate user-visible text and images from your executable code and translating them into desired languages. Integrating the content back into your app as separate localized resource files stored within your app s bundle. Using system provided APIs to express and manage user-visible or dynamically generated values properly across different locales (e.g. dates, lengths, weights, prices, and currency symbols). Ensuring your app accepts user-generated text in any language and in multiple languages at once, independent of the language of the user interface. 6

7 User Interface Translate or customize user-visible content for people from different cultures. Create or modify language-specific versions of nib files, text, icons and graphics (especially those containing culture-specific images), audio, and video for each locale. This process typically doesn t require modifications to your source code, making it easy to work on translations in-house or with an outside localization service. 7

8 Local Markets Apple offers promotional badge and product images that are localized in many languages, which you can use to promote your apps on the App Store and Mac App Store. It s another simple thing you can do to make your app stand out to a broader audience. ios Developer Program members can download these badges from the App Store Resource Center. 8

9 Internationalization and Localization Internationalization is the process of designing and building an application to facilitate localization. Localization, in turn, is the cultural and linguistic adaptation of an internationalized application to two or more culturally-distinct markets. When users launch a well-localized application, they should feel fully at home with it and not feel like it originated from some other country. 9

10 Internationalization and Localization Internationalization and localization are complementary activities. By internationalizing an application, you create the programmatic infrastructure needed to support localized content. By localizing that application, you then add resources that are customized for people of a different culture. Localizing an application often involves translating the user-visible text of the application. 10

11 Internationalization Internationalization is the process of designing your app for international compatibility. Example: Handle text input, output processing in the user s native language. Handle different date, time and number formats. Utilize the appropriate calendar and time zone for processing data. Internationalization is an activity that you, the developer, perform by utilizing the system provided APIs and making additions and modifications to your code to make your app as good in Chinese or Arabic as it is in English. 11

12 Localization Localization is merely translating the app s user interface and resources into different languages. This is something you can and should offload to someone else, unless you happen to be fluent in every language your app will support. 12

13 Separate Text from Code Currently, all of the text displayed by the app exists as hard-coded strings within storyboard and implementation (.m) files. In order to localize these strings, you need to put them into a separate file. Then, rather than hard-coding them within your methods, you will simply reference the strings using the file in your bundle. Xcode uses files with the.strings file extension to store and retrieve all of the strings used within the app, for each supported language. A simple method call in your code will lookup and return the requested string based on the current language in use on the ios device. 13

14 Strings File Create a new Resource file using the Strings File template. Save the name as Localizable.strings. Resist the urge to name the file something else, otherwise you will have to type the name of your.strings file every time you reference a localized string. Add all of the text that is currently hardcoded into the app by using the format "Key" = "Content" 14

15 Example Strings File "Yesterday you sold apps" = "Yesterday you sold %@ apps"; "You like?" = "You like?"; label.text = String(format: NSLocalizedString("Yesterday you sold %@ apps", comment: ""), numberstring) likebutton.settitle(nslocalizedstring("you like?", comment: ""), for:.normal) imageview.image = UIImage(named: NSLocalizedString("imageName", comment: "")) 15

16 Add Languages 16

17 Added Folders At this point, Xcode has set up some directories, behind the scenes, containing separate versions of InfoPlist.strings and Main.storyboard for each language you selected. 17

18 Language Codes The folders contain the language-specific versions of your files. en is the localization code for English. es is the localization code for Spanish. Full list of language codes: 18

19 Localize String 19

20 Localization Now the File Inspector panel will show which languages this file belongs to. Currently, as you can see, the file is only localized for English. Add Spanish localization by checking that box to the left of Spanish. 20

21 Localizable Go back to the left panel and click on the arrow next to Localizable.strings, so it shows the sub-elements. You now have two versions of this file: one for English and the other for Spanish: 21

22 Adding Spanish To change the text for Spanish, select Localizable.strings (Spanish) and replace its contents with the following: "Yesterday you sold apps" = "Ayer le vendió %@ aplicaciones"; "You like?" = "~Es bueno?~"; 22

23 Test To test it out and verify everything worked, change the display language on your simulator/device to Spanish by launching the Settings app and choosing: General à International à Language à Espanol 23

24 Number formatting Locale vs Language This looks great to an American, but in Spain 1 million is written as not 1,000,000. In ios, number formatting is based on the region/locale, not the language, so in order to see how someone in Spain will view the sales number, open Setting.app and change the locale by navigating to: General à International à Region Format à Spanish à Spain 24

25 Number formatting Locale vs Language let numberformatter = NumberFormatter() numberformatter.numberstyle =.decimal let numberstring = numberformatter.string(from: )! label.text = String(format: NSLocalizedString("Yesterday you sold %@ apps", comment: ""), numberstring) 25

26 Internationalizing Storyboards Open the disclosure triangle to the left of Main.storyboard and you should see Main.storyboard (Base) and Main.storyboard (Spanish). Clicking on Main.storyboard (Spanish) opens the editor with the localizable text in your storyboard. 26

27 Internationalizing Images Asset catalogs cannot be internationalized, so you will need to use a simple work-around to localize the image. Open Images.xcassets and add the image to the asset catalog by dragging and dropping the newly downloaded megusta.png into the list of images on the left. Edit Localizable.strings (English) and Localizable.strings (Spanish) imageview.image = UIImage(named: NSLocalizedString("imageName", comment: "")) 27

28 Consider Localize the name of the app itself. Internationalize Audio files. 28

29 Changes to Your App Nib files (windows, views, menus) must be modified to accept translated text. Static text must be translated. Icons and graphics (especially those containing culture-specific images) must be changed to be more culturally appropriate. Sound files that contain spoken language must be rerecorded for each supported language. Online help must be translated. Dynamic text generated by your program (including dates, times, and numerical values) must be formatted using the current locale information. Text handling code must calculate word breaks using the current locale information. Tabular data must be sortable using the current locale information. 29

30 Users Specify Language Preferences In ios, the user designates a preferred language by navigating to General à International à Language in the Settings application. Because ios-based devices support only one user, only one language at a time is selected. The system stores the list of languages as a per-user default under the AppleLanguages key. You can use the preferredlanguages method of the NSLocale class or the CFLocaleCopyPreferredLanguages function to retrieve the user s list of preferred languages. 30

31 Resources tation/macosx/conceptual/bpinternational/bpi nternational.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/ SW