Design Requirements for a Multilingual Web Application

Question

Today I asked the interviewer how to implement Arabic as a second language in a PHP web application. I talked about choosing Unicode encoding for the database and interface, as well as developing RTL-friendly user interface modules. And he did not look too pleased with the answer. I really don't know anything about multilingual systems, how would you answer this question?

Answer 1

• Make sure you use UTF-8 encoding on the site. Even that is not perfect, as prakscant said.
• Strings. You will need to discipline the localization of each line and phrase that may appear to the user. This means error messages, status bar messages, warning windows, dialog boxes, etc. You can create a list of strings or a list of directories that allows you to find strings by key (which can be in English).
• Localized Images. If you use images for buttons (containing text), they will also need to be localized. You can create an image map or a catalog file that allows you to find images for the appropriate culture using some key.
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Answer 2

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http://schlueters.de/blog/archives/128-Future-of-PHP-6.html

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Answer 3

UTF-8 :

php → UTF-8.

MySQL → UTF-8.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

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