Chapter 13. Internationalization, localization, and accessibility

 

This chapter covers

  • Making your user interface as widely usable as possible
  • Handling pluralization and user-defined differences in messages
  • Presenting times, dates, currencies, and numbers as users expect

In this chapter we’ll explore how to make your application as familiar to as many people as possible, through internationalization and localization. Using those techniques, you can present the interface in a user’s own language—with familiar date, time, and currency formats—and even display it in the expected direction (some users may read from right to left).

We’ll look at both of GWT’s provided approaches to internationalization (i18n)—static and dynamic—as well as how it supports localization (L10n). The static approach is preferred because it allows the compiler to remove unused information (making the download as small as possible, thereby improving user experience), whereas the dynamic approach is more useful when you have legacy data. Finally, we’ll quickly cover some tips on making your application more accessible—supporting visually impaired users.

If you have the chapter’s example application loaded into Eclipse, then it’s time to start looking at how to make the user interface as familiar to the user as you can.

13.1. Making a user feel comfortable

13.2. Using static string internationalization

13.3. Using static-string i18n with UiBinder

13.4. Determining the locale for static-string internationalization

13.5. Internationalizing client bundles through static internationalization

13.6. Dynamic string internationalization

13.7. Localization of dates, times, and currencies

13.8. Displaying the right direction

13.9. Accessibility

13.10. Summary