Guidelines for filing Internationalization and Localization bugs

Guidelines for filing, updating and verifying i18n and l10n bugs for the Zimbra Collaboration Suite & Zimbra Desktop client.

Search Zimbra i18n and l10n bugs

Search open bugs (unconfirmed, new, assigned, reopened)]

Queries to Zimbra i18n and l10n bugs

A) Existing bugs

B) Fixed bugs (includes bugs that still need to be verified)

C) Both fixed and open bugs


Difference between Localization (L10n) bugs and Internationalization (i18n) bugs

Localization (L10n) bugs

A Localization (L10n) bug refers to an issue in a specific language, such as a grammatical error, an untranslated string, a mislocalization (ex. wrong URL showing), a mistranslation or a terminology error. If the same error appears in one or more (not necessarily all) languages, it could be an Internationalization bug, so whenever possible, it is worth checking other localized versions for the same issue.

Internationalization (i18n) bugs

An Internationalization (i18n) bug is an issue that appears in localized versions of the product, but does not occur only in one language. The issue normally arises because the source code has not been internationalized (externalized for localization). The purpose of filing and tracking i18n bugs is to identify areas that are not localizable yet, and fixing them so them to allow for localization.

Things to look out for:

   * different char sets and special characters not displaying properly in the target environment
   * string truncations due to space restrictions within UI features such as tabs, columns, pop-up windows
   * string concatenations
   * different string lengths and font sizes breaking the UI.
   * correct formats for date, time, currency, numbers, etc. not properly displayed
   * hard-coded strings). 


Filing bugs

1. Before filing a bug, please check if the issue has already been filed here

- Sometimes we create duplicate bug reports but we should at least try to avoid that.

- This requires everyone to look over the existing bug list.

Note: It is possible that the issue has already been filed or even fixed (but not in build yet).

Please be creative searching this list and help avoid double filing. - issues other than i18n and l10n can be searched here.


2. When filing or updating Zimbra bugs, please:

A) choose proper component - Internationalization (i18n) or Localization (l10n)

- l10n issues: concerning any number of languages

- i18n issues: concerning all languages and not attributable to any one language in particular.

B) specify environment (OS version; browser version)


3. Write a clear summary and bug description (we'd like to clearly understand what the bug is about)

- Add individual languages to bug summary, i.e. [PL/pt_BR/FR] if the issue is visible to some but not all languages.

- If a bug is already assigned but does not contain the same scope of intended solution, it might be better to file a separate one (that can be assigned to someone else). In this case mention the original bug so it is obvious that a separate bug has been filed intentionally and is not supposed to be marked duplicate.

- Add [INTL] to bug summary if issue affects all languages.

(no need to keep adding comments and/or screen shots concerning individual languages once a bug has [INTL] status in summary).


4. Do not add comments to bugs unless they belong there.

- If you cannot find the issue in the EXISTING NEW, OPEN or FIXED BUGS LIST, then please file a new bug following the guidelines

Verified Against: n/a Date Created: 2/28/2008
Article ID: https://wiki.zimbra.com/index.php?title=Guidelines_for_filing_Internationalization_and_Localization_bugs Date Modified: 2008-12-15



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