(Internationalization is called Globalization at Microsoft)
Regional formats
Handling regional formats in general
In order to prepare a product for easy localization it is necessary to enable code to support local, regional, or language preferences. Usually this involves incorporating predefined localization data and features derived from existing libraries or user preferences. Examples include date and time formats, local calendars, number formats and numeral systems, sorting and presentation of lists, handling of personal names and forms of address, etc.[1]
| Russian | English US | French | Italian | German | Spanish | |
| Case | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Date | dd.mm.yyyy | mm/dd/yyyy | dd-mm-yyyy | dd/mm/yyyy | yyyy-mm-dd | dd/mm/yyyy |
| Time | hh:mm:ss (24-h) | hh:mm:ss am/pm (12-h) | hh:mm:ss (24-h) | hh:mm:ss (24-h) | hh:mm:ss (24-h) | hh:mm:ss (24-h) |
| Decimal Separator | Comma (,) | Period (.) | Comma (,) | Comma (,) | Comma (,) | Comma (,) |
| Thousand Separator | Space ( ) | Comma (,) | Space ( ) | Space ( ) | Space ( ) | Space ( ) |
| Number Example | 15 631,87 | 15,631.87 | 15 631,87 | 15 631,87 | 15 631,87 | 15 631,87 |
| Ordinals | 1-ый, 2-ой, 3-й… | 1st, 2nd, 3rd… | 1er, 2e, 3e | 1°, 2°, 3°… | 1. 2. 3. … | 1°, 2°, 3°… |
| First day of the week | Monday | Sunday | Monday | Monday | Monday | Monday |
Time
Work hours
Date
Days of the week
Calendars
Holidays
Numbers
Currencies
People's names
Addresses
Phone numbers
Paper sizes
Units of Measurement
Km vs. miles, F vs. C, lb. vs. kg
Text support
- ASCII
- Unicode
Text input
- Keyboard layouts
- Input Method Editors
Text data storage
Text output
GB18030 certification
As per the Wikipedia article on GB18030, 'GB 18030 is a Chinese government standard, described as Information technology — Chinese coded character set and defines the required language and character support necessary for software in China'.[2] It is a multi-byte encoding using 1-byte, 2-byte, and 4-byte codes. The Chinese Government has mandated that all applications released on or after 2001-Sep-01 must support GB 18030.
China has confirmed[3] that it is sufficient to be able to
- Input and output text in GB 18030 encoding
- Process the full character repertoire of GB 18030
Internationalization testing
Testing of regional formats support and text support