Network Deployment (Distributed operating systems), v8.0 > Develop and deploying applications > Develop Internationalization service > Task overview: Internationalizing interface strings (localizable-text API)
Identify localizable text
The first step in localizing strings in an application component is identifying the best candidates for translation.
Procedure
- Determine which elements of the application need translating.
Good candidates for localization include the following:
- Graphical user interfaces: window titles, menus and menu items, buttons, on-screen instructions
- Prompts in command-line interfaces
- Application output: messages and logs
- Assign a unique key to each element for use in message catalogs for the application. The key provides a language-neutral link between the application and language-specific strings in the message catalogs. Establishing a naming convention for keys before creating the catalogs can make writing code with these keys much more intuitive for interface programmers.
Example
Suppose you are localizing the GUI for a banking system, and the first window contains a pull-down list to use for selecting a type of account. 
The labels for the list and the account types in the list are good choices for localization. Three elements require keys: the list and two items in the list.
What to do next
Create message catalogs for the language-specific strings.Globalization