Continuous Client Side Localization With Javascript

Typical Localization Process Server Side Localization (Integrated Process) Translation Proxy Server Client Side / Javascript Process (NEW)

Server Side Localization Server localizes/translates content as it is served Web app with localization framework (e.g. .Net + RESX) CMS with multilingual support (e.g. Drupal) Provides high degree of control over output Expensive and difficult to implement and maintain

Server Side Localization End User’s Browser CMS or App Server Translation Localization Mgmt System

Translation Proxy Server Server generates content in source language Proxy server scans HTML/XML output, inserts translations as needed End user sees output in his/her language, server does not need to know how translations are generated Works with any HTML/XML compliant system

Translation Proxy Server End User’s Browser Translation Proxy Server CMS or App Server Translation Management System

Client Side Localization Server generates content in source language Javascript injected into page header inspects and “redraws” the page in the user’s language Translations are loaded as needed from a cloud based translation memory, similar to a content delivery network (CDN) Very easy to implement, works with almost all systems

Client Side Localization End User’s Browser CMS or App Server Cloud Based Translation Memory

Client Side Makes Sense When ... The content server or app server does not natively support translation or localization (e.g. WordPress) Upgrading server to support multilingual operation is time or cost intensive, -OR- available tools are not good. ROI from localization is unknown, hard to justify investment in customization and/or additional tools.

Localize.JS Integrated Javascript localization tool Integrated with a cloud based translation and localization service. Good end-to-end solution for web app developers looking for a “one stop” solution Priced primarily based on website traffic (pageviews)

Transifex Live Transifex is a fully featured translation/localization management platform (cloud based TMS) SaaS offering with low entry price, priced based on size of translation memory Supports all localization file formats, many document formats, in addition to client side localization Designed by software developers for software developers, resembles Git in its design and operation

Transifex Live : Inline Editing

Multiple Translation Processes Inline / In-Context translation via web editor (great for testing and fixing layout issues and getting correct context) Offline editing via web spreadsheet type environment Offline in external translation environment via TMX REST API, for process automation & continuous integration

Localization at Insightly Many different assets to be translated: Web app (.Net via RESX files) Android & iOS apps (via string catalogs bundled w/ apps) Marketing website (Wordpress w/ Javascript overlay) Zendesk Help Center (via REST API integration w/ Transifex) Transifex can handle all of these use cases

Multilingual Wordpress

WordPress In Many Languages WordPress is an excellent content management system, easy to use but very powerful One problem: it was never designed for multilingual content Available multilingual plug-ins are low quality, difficult to work with Transifex Live solved these issues, enables us to publish in many languages concurrently

WordPress Translation Process Loc manager checks in daily to ingest new strings for translation (we only translate a subset of our website content, manager decides what gets translated) New source texts are queued for translation, picked up by our agencies via TMX files for offline work. New translations are pushed to the translation delivery network each day, no effect on Wordpress publishing workflow.

Granular Control Over Translation JS translation tools enable you to control when/how translations are done at text segment (<span>) level. To protect a text from translation, simply apply class=”notranslate” to that page element. In addition, managers can decide which texts to ingest for translation

Which Method Is Best? Server side translation: provides highest level of control, but is difficult & expensive. Makes sense IF the system supports this, and you are confident in ROI. Proxy server: works with legacy systems, also a good option if you want to have locale specific domains (e.g. zh.yourcompany.com) Javascript: cheap, easy to implement, no infrastructure to manage or maintain

Which Method Does Insightly Use? Some of the above Use server side localization for web app and mobile Use API integration with Zendesk for our help site Use Javascript localization with WordPress for corp site Seriously considered proxy server for WP, but went with JS to keep infrastructure requirements simple

Some Other Useful JS Loc Tools Datepicker, a very nice date/time picker/calendar tool, localiztions are available as config files date.js, renders date/time elements in localized format, so the server can use a consistent format (e.g. UTC time) and not worry about locale specific formatting. localize.js, discussed previously, also a good alternative to Transifex Live