Make the decision to use the API or translated resources early. This decision will play a large role in the design and development of your View components .
Do not commit entirely to one approach. For example, it may make sense to translate your View JSPs at runtime and have your Help JSPs fully translated since they are simple text.
Plan for NLS enablement from the beginning. Though you may not have access to the translated values during development, building the default resource bundle as you iterate through the development will make future NLS enablement much easier and virtually painless.
Be conscious of character-locale ratios. If you are developing in English, be aware that translations into other languages such as German or Spanish may require more screen real estate. A number of API facilities are available for you to determine the current locale.
Do not rely on an administration implementation of NLS. The NLS enablement facility for portlets is limited and there is no guarantee or check system. To implement dynamic NLS titles, consider implementing the PortletTitleListener interface and generating the title content via JSP or HTML files.
Leave translations to language experts. With proper design, planning and construction of your portlet applications, there should be little to no effort involved in incorporating support for new languages.
