17.0 Introduction

Internationalizing an application means making it world-ready. There are two processes involved:

Globalization

The process of designing an application so that it can adapt to different cultures

Localization

The process of translating the application's resources for a specific culture

Internationalizing an application requires explicit planning during the initial design. It generally consists of three steps:

1. Designing for globalization by ensuring the application is culture and language neutral. In other words, any content whose display depends on culture or language cannot be hardcoded in the HTML or program code.

2. Designing for localization by ensuring that no data that is culture-or language-specific is contained in the code and that the required data is obtained from resource files.

3. Creating specific resource files to support each culture and language.

A few samples of internationalization are included. If you need to internationalize an application, you would do well to obtain training or purchase one of the many books dedicated to the subject.