News

New Localization Solution Offers .NET Support

• By John K. Waters
• October 23, 2006

Technologies for software localization—the process of translating a UI from one language to another and adapting it to foreign cultural references—have been around for about 15 years, but the modern global marketplace has spawned a new generation of specialized localization tools.

Case in point: Sisulizer Ltd's new localization solution, Sisulizer 1.1. The latest version of the Finish company's namesake product comes with new features aimed at Microsoft .NET developers. .NET's built-in support for Unicode and RESX makes it an ideal environment for creating applications that are easy to localize, the company says.

Sisulizer 1.1 works visually with HTML, XSL and XML, and allows developers to see all components in a WYSIWYG display. Improved HTML support allows for the localization of entire websites. The tool also allows developers to determine which Windows resources they want to localize, including icons, menus, dialog boxes, strings, accelerators, versions, and manifest resources. It also supports mobile technologies, including .NET for Smart Devices, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile, Symbian, and J2ME.

Sisulizer supports several Segmentation Rules, which are localization standards that describe how to segment text items for storage in translation memory. Among the standards supported are the Segmentation Rules eXchange, an XML-based format that allows translators to reuse their work; Translation Memory, a database that stores combinations of source text and one or more translations; Translation Memory eXchange, another XML-based format defined to help localizers and translators exchange their existing work (translation memory) between localization tools; and XML Localization Interchange File Format, an XML-based format that contains translatable data and meta tags, which can be used to visualize the data.

In addition to support for unlimited strings and languages, the Professional and Enterprise editions of the tool support visual HTML localization, local database localization, translation validation, pseudo translation support, spell-checking, and integrated translation memory. These editions also provide the ability to import comma-separated files, localized files, local database information, and data from other localization tools.

The Enterprise Edition also supports Visual JSP, ASP, and PHP localization. It provides the ability to import from and localize a server database, and to share translation memory on the database server. It comes with a command-line tool and an interface to third-party translation memories. The company is also offering a Personal Edition of Sisulizer, which supports "less ambitious translation projects required when localizing software for mobile computing platforms."

Sisulizer 1.1 also comes with full support for all of Borland's new Turbo line of development tools (Turbo Delphi for Win32, Turbo Delphi for .NET, Turbo C++, and Turbo C#).

Sisulizer 1.1 runs on Windows 2000, XP, and 2003. Existing customers can download the newest build. The company is also providing a fully functional, 30-day evaluation copy.