Identify the devices or software suitable for your needs and budget can be a considerable challenge. What if the decision was dependent on your language. Finding hardware and software Localized for your need to be a considerable challenge for users. This could be especially difficult in the case of languages not constructed from Latin glyphs. On Friday, 28th August 2009 the decision for customers using Chinese glyphs become considerably easier. Continue »
In the past few day I have been working on improving the functionality of www.matthewwittering.co.uk, adding a new contact form with ajax submission. I would be the first to admit confusion on what option available is better in regards to Java Script libraries. Which should I use? jQuery, MooTools, script.aculo.us, Prototype or Dojo. For the contact form I have added to this site I have chosen to use the jQuery JavaScript library for the AJAX form submission. Continue »
MySQL is an Open Source project freely available under the GNU General Public Licence. The application is regularly used by developers using PHP, Perl, Python and Ruby projects as a persistent data store for user generated data. On completion of this weblog I will have explained how to create tables which handle the Unicode character set encoded as UTF-8. Continue »
In this weblog I am covering how to use Unicode in your next PHP project. This is an extremely simple activity to configure PHP5 to operate with Unicode and more importantly the UTF-8 character encoding scheme. We will start with a quick recap of Unicode then look at UTF-8 finishing with how to alter the internal encoding scheme of PHP5. Continue »
Now that I have written several articles on Internationalization and Localization I would like to consider an interesting topic which draws upon several different topics and technologies. I intend to explain upon the conclusion of this weblog International Domain Names. This is a complicated topic, so whatever your knowledge about Domain Name Servers and the Internet I think we should start from the beginning. Continue »
What are languages and why do they need tags? Language tags are used in HTML content to describe semantically the language used to compose the main body content held within the document. Failing to identify the language used for composition causes unnecessary complications in a multilingual world. Continue »
In a world of many languages it is important to identify both the language of the document and the preferred language of the user. The goal should be to find the most appropriate translation of the selected page for the current user. To do so would aid the development and maintenance of relationships between user and organisation. Continue »
Now the latest version of the ever popular Open Source Internet browser, Mozilla Firefox has been released I am going to muse again about its relevance. It is important to underscore how critical this application is for the Internet ecosystem. Now version 3.5 the browser offers users and developers a suite of extensions to customise functionality according to the user requirements. Continue »
This article is meant to extend on my previous efforts on Localization / L10n and moving through an introduction to Unicode. Unicode is a critical component for Internationalization and Localization and effects content in both desktop and web-based applications. I will however focus on the latter. Continue »
In a previous post I wrote about Internationalization and Localization using abbreviations for both words as i18n and L10n. Words constructed in this manner are referred to as numeronym, a number-based word. Continue »