Internationalization and Localization

Internationalization (i18n) is the process of designing software applications so that it can be adapted to various languages and regions without engineering changes. Localization (l10n) is the process of adapting internationalized software for a specific region or language by adding locale-specific components and translating text.

Here are a number of guidelines for designing content with international audiences in mind:

Date and Time

Date and Time should always be stored in UTC to allow it to be converted and displayed in multiple time zones. LUX components and guidelines follow the conventions detailed below by default:

• Basic date format: dd/mm/yyyy. For example 03/08/2017.

• For the current day and the day before that, the default is Today and Yesterday.

• Basic time format: 00:00 PM/AM. For example 05:55 AM.

• The combined date and time should be connected using either a comma or the word ‘at’, where relevant. For example:

  • 03/08/2017, 00:55 AM and Yesterday, 12:55 PM.

  • 03/08/2017 at 00:55 AM and Yesterday at 12:55 PM.

All applications built for Verint should allow the above defaults to be automatically changed based on the users specified browser locale (or by a manual setting, if the application allows it). Details of conventions for specific countries and regions are available here.

Many frameworks and libraries (such as Moment.js) offer full and constantly-updated internalization features for easy localization of dates and times.

Decimals

Despite being the conventional standard (and the LUX default), Great Britain and the United States are two of the few places in the world that use a period to indicate the decimal place. Many other countries use a comma instead. Likewise, while the UK and US often use a comma to separate groups of thousands, many other countries use a period instead, and some countries separate groups of thousands with a thin space.

As with Date and Time above, all applications built for Verint should allow the decimal character defaults to be automatically changed based on the users specified browser locale (or by a manual setting, if an application allows it). Details of conventions for specific countries and regions are available here.

Large Numbers

In LUX, large numbers may be represented using K for thousands and M for millions, which is the common practice in most countries.

Text Expansion

Always design with text expansion in mind. When English text gets translated into another language, the translated text can be as much as 3x longer. Make UI components expandable whenever possible. Do not assign a fixed width or height to your UI component unless you have a good reason to.

For longer text, wrapping is a good solution. Be aware of the potential vertical expansion since translated text will require more lines. Truncation with hover text can be a compromise. Be aware that this brings the risk of making the UI less effective.

Length and Size

The general rule for text expansion is: “the shorter the English text, the longer the translated text is likely to be”. The following table shows the average text expansion rate for different English text lengths:

Language expansion

In addition to English text length, the target language also has an impact upon the amount of expansion. The following table shows the expansion factor for the English text “Share” into various languages:

In general, Asian languages use less space as they tend to be more compact than European languages.

Right to Left

In certain languages, such as Arabic and Hebrew, text is read from right-to-left (RTL). This makes it necessary to flip your entire design. A modular design approach will come in handy while accommodating RTL languages. For example, the application below is designed to flip neatly for Hebrew and other RTL languages:

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When localizing for RTL, the elements below should be mirrored:

• Horizontal ordering.

• Text (from LTR to RTL).

• Text field icons should be displayed on the opposite side of a field.

• Navigation and menu buttons should be displayed in reverse order.

• Icons that communicate direction, such as arrows, should be mirrored.

The elements below should not be mirrored:

• Vertical ordering.

• Clocks.

• Video and audio controls.

• Timeline indicators.

Most of the recent native frameworks are now mirroring-aware, making it easier to create a mirrored layout with very limited code changes.

Nation Flags

Avoid using flags to represent languages; language and country are different concepts. Flags are symbols that represent countries or nations, whereas languages represent a shared method of communication between people. For example, Spanish is spoken in 29 countries, and Spain is only one of them. Countries like Canada have more than 1 official language, so it cannot be represented by a single flag.

When designing a language selector, use plain text, despite its lack of visual appeal. Only use flags to represent countries or nations, not languages. Language names in the selector should always be shown in their own language, in order to make it easy for users to be able to identify their language of choice regardless of the currently-selected language. For example, English will always be labelled ‘English’, and French will always be labelled ‘Français’, even if Hebrew is selected as the current language.

Headers

Content Headers

Headers are the titles and subtitles used to illustrate the importance of a section or page. The underlying heading order is used to index the structure and content of your application's pages for assistive tools.

In LUX, all headers should be the same size as its corresponding section text using the matrix below. Headers one stop higher (two at most) than the section text may be used when no exact match or extra emphasis is required for that specific section. For example, if your section copy text is set at 12px, use the small, medium or large header depending on how much emphasis is needed. If your section copy text is set at 14px, only the medium or large headers should be used.

Labels

Effective form labelling helps users to understand which information to enter into a form input.

• A common method of space saving is using placeholder text as a label. However, this is not recommended because it hides context and can present accessibility issues. The use of placeholder labels should be restricted to forms where the field purpose is a universal standard, and where accessibility can be guaranteed, e.g. login forms.

• Provide a text label, above or next to its associated field and left aligned to its associated field. Checkboxes and Radio Buttons are exceptions to this rule.

• In situations where horizontal UI space is limited, or responsive design is used, render the label above its associated field.

• Ensure that all labels and associated fields are vertically aligned as columns in a table.

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Accessibility

Unless otherwise specified, see our general compliance information in Fundamentals - Accessibility.

For accessible labels, you should also follow these additional requirements:

• Use the appropriate HTML <label> element and label for attribute.

• Labels must remain visible when an input is focused.

• Labels must be announced to the screen reader on focus.

• Ensure the help text which appears underneath an input is read when an assistive technology user stops at an input using ARIA.

• Use sentence case capitalization (see Capitalization under Text Formats).
  
  

Capitalization

• We use different capitalization styles for different types of content to improve scannability, organize information, and guide users to key actions.

• When building new LUX applications, also align capitalization practices with platform conventions to match user expectations (e.g. specific iOS conventions).

Styles

LUX uses two capitalization styles:

Examples