Skip the typical software localization beginner's traps

Author: Renate Reinartz

States

If you design an online contact form, you should never force your user to enter a state, or, even worse, select one of the 50 US states. Not all users live in the USA.

Some users might live in countries that use other systems, like departments in France or counties in Great Britain or canton in Switzerland. Others aren't used to providing the state they live in like Germans, and states are not used as part of an address information.

More software localization traps

1. Languages
2. Character sets
3. Code pages
4. Numbers
5. Currencies
6. Dates
7. Time
8. List separator
9. Measurements
10. Paper format
11. Phone number
12. Sort order
13. Tax
14. States
15. Other traps
16. Conclusion