XML and e-commerce Website Localization

The explosive growth in the number of e-commerce sites as a sales vehicle for businesses trying to break into new and international markets presents specific challenges to programmers, translators, and localizers. On these sites, content is often generated directly from databases and based on the XML format.

e-commerce websites also often present additional challenges:

• The lengths of text elements and data fields must be strictly maintained during the translation process.
• Content changes regularly and the translation must be available simultaneously in the other languages needed.
• The localizer is required to differentiate between text and additional attributes of the XML code during the translation stage.
• Specific experience and tools are needed in order to create XML files as export and import files in Unicode.

These points make it difficult to use traditional translation tools for these purposes, meaning that special localization tools are needed. For these projects, we use specific tools that ensure that the website retains its functionality and quality over the translation and localization process.

In today’s Internet-driven age, multilingual company websites are becoming the international standard. Ensuring that a website such as an e-commerce site is internationalized appropriately often calls for major adaptation of existing HTML files, Flash animation, graphic files, scripts, and other features.

Our website localization process ensures that information and codes (character sets, date, time, currency, and number formats, contact information, colors and text alignment, etc.) meet the expectations of your international target group.

More complex websites are often based on a content management system (CMS) such as Typo3, Contenido, Joomla, Modx, etc., which can only be adjusted online. In these cases, we mainly use CMS extraction tools to help us manage the quality assurance process.

The following items must be considered and processed during any website localization project:

•  Text in script files (such as Java or ASP scripts)
• Adaptation of FAQs and help files
• Creation of hyperlinks in the target language as in the source language
• Special characters and fonts used in the target language must display correctly
• Layout and fonts must be checked across all the widely used browsers
• Text in buttons and graphics must be edited and prepared

Our website localization specialists typically work directly in the HTML files, except with CMS websites. This eliminates lengthy, labor-intensive insertion of translated text and reformatting of files. The websites are then ready to upload right away.

We can provide regular maintenance, changes, and additions to websites with the use of translation memory tools.

We use the following localization tools:

• Visual Localize
• Catalyst
• Passolo

Just call us or send an e-mail or fax.

The KERN language team is always glad to speak with you about your specific project requirements and provide additional information.