Software implementation of automated user interface translation tool.

Abstract

Numerous daily activities are long since accomplished using mobile applications and international resources available through the Internet. The majority of such resources support only a limited amount of world languages for the interface. This raises the issue of the need for end users to know the languages required to operate and use these programs. Not every developer in the world has access to professional translation services, or the ability to create such translations on their own. Evaluating these factors shows an existing need of a convenient and accessible program specialized in creating and ensuring quality translation of software user interfaces specifically. Analysis was conducted to determine advantages and disadvantages of possible implementation methods and existing algorithms, i.e. GNU gettext. Based on this analysis requirements for the resulting program are formed, those being a comfortable user interface and a set of functions specific to working with user interfaces and source code files. The list of primary functionality includes interaction with internet services for machine translation and the ability to view the source code of a program or website in context of text elements of the user interface. A program tool for the Microsoft Windows environment that implements all requirements to base functionality is conceptualized and developed. The project version of the program was implemented using C# programming language and Microsoft Visual Studio development environment. The program is specialized for the translation of user interfaces, and enables automation of this process via usage of the Google Translate service. To maximize ease of use the program stores the resulting translation in a simple text format, designed to be loaded and read from during runtime of the target program or website. Also included is a detailed demonstration on the workflow using the interface of the translation program as an example, and potential directions of further developments are determined.