Re: [Rails-devel] I18N

[John D. G. <jd...@di...>]

Erik Vos wrote:
> One issue we might need an early decision on is
> whether or not we will internationalise (localise)
> our system. This would affect mainly the UI,
> but also a readable game report, either written
> directly by the program, or afterwards by a stand-alone
> formatter from an XML game report, might need to be localised.
>=20
> Here are my thoughts.
>=20
> Languages:
> I would go for allowing multiple languages.
> All UI text (excl. company & city names) should be defined
> in a resource bundle.
>=20
> For date/time, numbers etc. I think it's not necessary=20
> to go as far as using Java Locales.
>=20
> Date/time:
> Might appear in saved game files and game reports.
> We could standardise on YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss=20
> (I believe this is the ISO standard).
> Time also in the UI if we allow timed games.

I agree so far.

> Fractional numbers:
> I vaguely remember having seen games in which 5% certicates=20
> count for 0.5 against the limit.=20
> Not sure if it is really needed to allow commas here.
> If so it can be a UI customisation item. Or use =BD.

I would embed this logic in functions that convert numbers to and from
strings, and pass all I/O (other than XML) through those functions.
(Of course, this creates a naming conflict since you've already decided
that toString() will be used to convert objects to XML.  I would have
called that toXML() instead.)

> Thousand separators: to be avoided (confusing).

Inserting a space might be worth doing.  Certainly ignore spaces on
input.

> Currency symbols: not needed, I think, in most places.
> If used, follow the placement as in the games rules,
> i.e. $100 (1856), 100G (1854).

I disagree, this should be localized and is trivial to do.

As others have said, locale support can be added after a first release.