How Will You Localize Graphics?

Plan your graphics with localization in mind

It's probably safe to say that the majority of documentation contains graphical content. This brings another challenge to the localization process, as the graphics will usually also require some form of translation.

How you handle translation of your graphics, will depend vastly on the nature of your documentation, and the graphics themselves. For example if documenting a product where the user interface has also been localized, you'll need to replace any screenshots with their localized equivalents. Your documentation may contain flowcharts and diagrams that contain text which will require translation. Even if a user interface hasn't been localized, if your documentation includes screenshots or diagrams with callouts (or labels), the text inside these will normally need to be translated. You also need to consider who is going to be responsible for "translating" your graphics - you or your localization vendor?

Re-evaluate and reduce the number of graphics with text

Ideally, graphics should not contain text for the simple reason that it eliminates the need to translate them (unless of course the user interface is also being localized).

However, many graphics need text in the form of callouts to facilitate the readers understanding and use of your product. Depending on the languages involved, these callouts (when translated) will be affected to some degree by text expansion. Text expansion occurs during translation for a variety of reasons:

many languages have equivalent words with far more characters than English
some languages tend to avoid the use of abbreviations (German, for instance) and
hyphenation and automatic line break issues may be quite different from English.

Consider that when English text is translated into languages such as French, German or Italian, the resulting text can require up to 35% more physical space on a page than the English text.

When creating graphics, position any callouts carefully. If text is going to be affected by expansion or contraction, the callouts need to be placed so translated text does not interfere with and obscure the graphic underneath.

Instead of text callouts, consider using labelled callouts with numerical or alphabetical symbols, and describing the text associated with the graphic in a table below. The table allows room for text expansion that could otherwise interfere with the graphic. It also requires less work to localize (saving you money), as the graphic text is part of the main topic text, and not a layer inside the graphic file.

Remember that DVD player you purchased last Christmas? Chances are if you check the manual, that any diagrams included use numbered callouts.

Of course, this approach won't always be practical. Complex diagrams or flowcharts would just look silly if the text was replaced with numbers!

The task of translating graphics becomes more expensive if your localization vendor only has access to rasterized/ flattened graphic files. Such files require substantial content recreation as the text cannot be manipulated in a bitmapped form. This can be avoided by ensuring the localization team has access to text layers in the original graphic file format.

Depending on who will be responsible for localizing these graphics, there are various approaches you can take:

Embedding the graphics in OLE format. For example, a Visio or Corel Draw diagram can be opened in Visio or Corel Draw from within AuthorIT, and the text layers translated.
Saving the original source files and providing them to your localization vendor. For example, if you've used a GIF or JPG file, you should provide the original Photoshop (.psd) source files, or any other layer-based original format used to generate the final graphics, color palette information, preferred fonts, export or save settings and any design specifications that were used to create the original graphics.

Instead of sending the graphics to your translators, consider listing the text elements in a separate non-publishing topic. This can be included in the translation job, then when it comes back the translations can be added to or updated in the images.

Embedded or linked?

Linked graphics can be easier to localize, as it allows the process to be completed externally without requiring a knowledge of AuthorIT. This can be important if your localization vendor will be responsible for localizing the graphics.

Simply send the graphics independently for translation or localization, and replace them on return. To assist the translation process, it's also a good idea to include a published context document to make it easier for your translators to determine context.

On the other hand, if you're going to be responsible for localizing the graphics, it is just as easy to use embedded graphics. Simply open the File Object in the Target library and double-click the graphic. It opens in the application associated with that file type on your machine - so an embedded Visio diagram opens in Visio, an Excel spreadsheet opens in MS Excel, and so on. Edit and save the file to update the File object.