IT:AD:Globalisation

The terms Localisation/ and Globalisation/ are used so often together that they turn into a blurry phrase rather than being distinct subjects…let's try to sort that out first.

The process of designing and developing software to work in various cultures:

• formatting most (not all) output according to the client's UICulture, while formatting specific outputs (usually currency) in another Culture.
• designing layouts for more than just your native tongue
• taking into account additional screen label space when translating strings. (A rule of thumb is to add at least 25% or more space than is required in English).
• Allowing for layout to be flipped for cultures who read from right to left.
• Using international encodings (UTF-8 rather than ASCII, etc).