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Published byCale Bauer Modified over 10 years ago
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The Evolution of Localizability Testing & Pseudo Localization Models Bj Rollison, Test Training Manager Microsoft, Inc.
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The importance of localization Higher growth in international markets Governmental requirements “ Localization is a right, not a privilege. ” Success in software industry today depends on international scope
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In the beginning… Hard coded strings in source code Source code recompiled per language main (void) { printf (“Hello World!”); return 0; }
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Recompile localization ENU.rc src DEU.rc JPN.rc Others.rc Ifdef src Time & Cost Ifdef src
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Present day… Single worldwide binary Resources isolated No compile localization LoadString (hinst, IDS_HELLO, szFormat, cchMaxSz); while { char szString[cbMaxSz]; int nPercent = PercentComplete(); _tnsprintf(szString, szFormat, nPercent); DrawString (szString); //more code stuff here } Hello Bonjour こんにちわ
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No compile localization “GLOBAL” src ENU.rc DEU.rc JPN.rc Other.rc Reduced Time & Cost
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Globalization Localization L10N Internationalization Model I18N
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Typical localization process “GLOBAL” src ENU.rc Pilot Langs..rc Tier 1.rc Tier 2.rc TIME + COST Tier 3.rc Ifdef src
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Localization lunacy Oh yeah … now localize it! Engineering costs > 40% of software localization Too many code defects found during localization processes Often no way of knowing where defects exist until localization begins No standardized development or localization processes
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So what is localizability anyway? An engineering paradigm that allows modifications to the resources used by a software program Without introducing functional defects requiring modification of the source code Without requiring retesting of common functional areas
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Inventing the wheel Identify common defects Isolate causes Craft model Define new heuristics
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Localizability Entomology Missing files, setup failures Build scripts Untranslated text Hard-coded strings Strings from external sources Functionality problems String dependencies Over translation
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Localizability Entomology Accessibility key issues Non-ASCII key mnemonics Sentence composition Concatenated/dynamic strings Truncated text/buffer overflow Hard-coded string buffer size Button text in string table User drawn menus/controls Hard-coded style layout in CSS
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Localizability Entomology Character corruption Hard-coded font Not Unicode enabled Incorrect meta charset tag User interface issue Dynamic controls Absolute coordinates Overlapping controls (string truncation) Registry keys used to display text
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Taming the beast Set localization rules Append characters to all localizable strings Grow all string lengths Bracket all strings Replace accessibility key mnemonics
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Pseudo localization models
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Hammer out the process Update BASE resources Generate pseudo loc dB Verify heuristics Generate pseudo build ALL ANSI charsets Unicode ONLY language Test!
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International Sufficiency Testing Global Functionality Testing Localized Functionality Testing User Interface Testing Globalization Localization L10N Internationalization Model I18N Localizability Testing
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Attacking localizability Pseudo localization model is not panacea for globalization testing Don ’ t retest everything Don ’ t use pseudo localized build to test general functionality Reuse automated tests Focus on localizability class bugs
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Pseudo localization as THE pilot Pseudo Localized Pilot Loc. Vers. M1 Eng Lang Project Mx M0 RC Spec. Loc. Vers. Pseudo localized build is the pilot language! Localization is not a release bottleneck!
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Rebuilding the Tower of Babel Common linguistic databases Development tools Standardized processes Auto-resizing dialogs WYSIWYG localization tools Natural language processing
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Summary English is Just Another Language (EJAL) Reengineering still drives localization Single worldwide binary & no-compile localization development strategy Pseudo localizability models qualify localizability & improve quality Localization = translation/simple modification
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Questions
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