Localization

A week or so ago Wil gave me a generous time budget and one simple mission: solicit localizations in as many languages as possible, no matter how underrepresented they are in our user base. I pondered the wisdom in those words for a while, then banged out a post on my indelicately-named blog.

The gist of it was this: universities and other organizations trying to preserve pre-colonial languages should help software developers localize their applications. If you're going to truly preserve a language, people must be able to live in that language, including time spent at their computers.

Unfortunately, post-colonial nations are often economically disadvantaged, and public universities are themselves frequently starved for funds. Why would you be interested in localizing an application you can't afford?

Any developer would happily exchange a copy of their application for a localization, but Wil decided to take our initiative one further.

If you are part of a reasonably-sized non-profit organization — or a reasonably-sized department within a non-profit — and you would be willing to localize Delicious Library, we will grant you a site license. When Delicious Library 2 comes out, we'll upgrade you for free.

I hope that will provide a very real monetary answer to the question of "what's in it for me?" Localizers will also have their names listed on the credits panel within Delicious Library 2.

There's also a larger, less tangible benefit. Assuming this crazy plan works and people start adding localizations to Delicious Library, other developers are going to notice. Delicious Library is frequently held up, by Apple and others, as an example of best practices in the industry. If you want developers to start localizing their applications in your language, localizing Delicious Library is a great first step.

So, OK, great, but what if you don't have a lot of time, or access to a Mac? No problem; we've developed special localization routines as part of our Golden%Braeburn project to eliminate the need for any special tools. All you do is translate lists of strings. There are about 30 lists, but most of them have just a few items.

Please drop us a line if you're interested.