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Go Up to Localization Considerations in UI Design


All text that appears in the user interface must be translated. The following rules can help to implement these translations:

  • Avoid abbreviations - they do not exist in languages that use ideographic characters.
  • Avoid slang and specific cultural references.
  • Document strings using comments to provide context for translators.
  • Use consistent terminology.
  • Design the elements of your user interface that display text so that there is room for the text strings to grow. Create dialogs, menus, status bars, and other user interface elements that display text so that they can easily display longer strings. English text is almost always shorter than its translations.

Short strings tend to grow in translation more than long phrases. The following table provides a rough estimate of how much expansion you should plan for given the length of your English strings:

Estimating string lengths :

Length of English String (in characters) Expected Increase

1-5

100%

6-12

80%

13-20

60%

21-30

40%

31-50

20%

over 50

10%

See Also