1. Design localization-friendly user interface
by Andras Timar SUSE LibreOffice Team
Localization without building – by Andras Timar

2. Leave space for text expansion
VCL works with fixed layout
English words are short …
Same string in German/French/Portoguise/etc. can be much longer
Always leave at least 30% for long strings and even 50% for short strings
Example: Title Page dialog in LibreOffice 3.3 betas
Design localization friendly UI

3. Avoid Yes/No message boxes
Some languages do not have words “Yes” and “No”
Would you like to save %1? Yes/No
It becomes [I will save] / [I will not save]
but sometimes Yes/No are generic buttons, good translation is not possible
Press OK to save %1. OK/Cancel
Design localization friendly UI

4. Don't use line feeds for formatting
Translators not always know where to put the line feeds, layout of the translated dialog
will be ugly, unless someone check for it in localized builds every time.
Design localization friendly UI