WHITE PAPERS i18n Guidelines
1. Expose Resource Strings to Localization
All resource strings that need to be translated should be "visible" to the localization process.
This means that the strings should be contained inside an agreed upon resource file format and located according to an agreed upon organization for resource files (see Resource String Guidelines).
1.1. Surfacing Resource Strings
In particular, this means that some strings used in some atypical ways should also be "surfaced" so that they can be picked up by the localization process and translated accordingly.
1.1.1. Externalize Resources for Files That Require Post-Processing
Consider the example of source image files (e.g. Photoshop .psd files) that contain text that needs to be translated and rasterized to produce unique .jpeg files per language.
With just a source file in a project's codebase, the strings will not be automatically translated. In order to have these strings translated so that the post-processing can be performed to generate the language specific JPEGs, the strings should be in a resource file that is recognized by the localization process.
1.1.2. Internationalize Files for Translation
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cite example of a downloadable Excel Spreadsheet (.xls) files |