Much time, energy, and commitment are required to develop and sell successful
software products and Web-based services. Most products of this type are
initially developed for a specific language and locale (e.g., U.S. English).
To maximize return on investment, products can be customized so they may be
available to the largest possible market - the global market. This
customization process is known as localization.
Localization includes not only translation of the displayed text, but also
adaptation of a product to comply with a country's cultural and legal
practices. Examples of cultural conventions include date/time formats, postal
address formats, font sizes, appropriateness of colors, numeric or currency
formats and symbols, culturally appropriate icons or graphics, ... (more)