Chapter 4: Multilingual Planning, Deployment, and Maintenance

Overview

This chapter focuses on the new capabilities of Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to host sites in different languages and present content in multiple languages within the same site collections. This new functionality and the flexibility of multilingual options presents new planning decisions prior to deployment, new deployment options, and new maintenance concerns. You'll find an in-depth discussion of the functionality of the Variation feature provided by Office SharePoint Server 2007 and how variations extend beyond the more common application of synchronizing content in multiple languages.

This chapter helps you understand the planning issues for content translation encountered in a multilingual scenario and the solutions provided by the translation workflow and variation packaging. It includes a discussion of the limitations or constraints in the variation processes, including issues with some Web Parts.

The tools provided to assist in managing the process of manually translating content are also covered in this chapter, with particular focus on planning issues.