GUIDELINES FOR TESTING
INTL AND LOCALIZED SOFTWARE
A Few Basic Rules for Testers of English Intl Software and Localized
Versions
It is a well known fact that the earlier you can discover a bug in a product
development process, the less expensive it is to fix it. Depending on the level of
Intl support built into the base code, the testing that needs to be done will vary.
There are two basic testing requirements when making sure a product can be sold in all
the countries for which it was developed:
- Testing the internationalization of the base
product
- Testing the localized versions of an
internationalized product.
Both requirements can be satisfied very early in the
product development cycle, so Intl bugs fixes can be done as early as possible,
without delaying the localized versions.
When a product is fully internationalized, the Intl US version supports all of
the features required in the localized versions. For instance, even though the user
interface is still in English, an Intl product supports the correct character sets
required by the localized versions. In other words, you dont need to wait for an
early localized version to be available to test basic functionality such as: character
sets, sorting, case conversion, find/replace, etc.
Get familiar with the Intl requirements at the product concept phase
Localization does not start when the text strings are ready to be shipped to the
translation agency. It starts when a company has to decide the features of a new product
or the features of a new version of an existing product. The Intl support of each
feature should be decided at this stage in order to avoid a major product re-architecture
at the end of the development process when any change becomes much more expensive.
Include an Intl section in the test plan
Ideally, all Intl product requirements will be listed in the products
specifications. The test plan should spec out how the test suites will be localized to
exercise the base codes Intl support.
Establish bug report procedures for Intl and Localization bugs
Localization testers should be able to enter anomaly reports into the base US bug
database. Although this seems quite obvious, there are many companies that would consider
a localization testers waste of time to discover problems in the base product. Other
companies are more proactive and facilitate a localization testing task by setting up a
special Intl section of their base bug database. Information about anomalies related
to earlier localized versions can be very useful when defining a localized test plan.
(end of chapters sample)

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