New versions of my apps are under construction. Likewise, several blog posts are in draft status and will be posted during this spring.

Please feel free to add comments and suggestions on topics you want to discuss.

My app True iLoan today has two languages – Norwegian and English. I have ordered – with a local company –  to translate this into: Spanish, French, Danish, Chinese and German. This seems like an easy and straightforward task – however according to my experience – this is not always the case.

Steps to carry out. The following scenarios have to be done: (i) Send the text to translation; both program text and metadata text. After receiving the translation I have to (ii) create version of the app for all the languages, (iii) test it on each language, (iv) submit application to apple for approval, (v) and update the metadata accordingly.

What happened actually? Translation in itself should be pretty straightforward, the app is localized – no strings direct in the code – and the localizable. string file, as well as the metadata are sent to the company for translation. Well almost 100% localized – a couple of buttons are still hardcoded with text (save, cancel). I have already received an initial offer of the cost of the translation – anyway the final cost was a little higher.
My app is on the top twenty lists – in the finance category – of the best selling apps in Norway.

Danish was the first language to translate. I started out with the Danish language.  Since it is pretty similar to Norwegian. Also I have already sold several apps there – all in Norwegian. Since I have already implemented Localization as a concept, the book Beginning iPhone Development written by Dave Mark and Jeff LaMarche is excellent, it gives great information on doing this. So what you need to do are:

• Add a new localizable string file for each language ( Yes – five different)
• Add a nib file for each language, since I have five this will give five new nib files for each view; a couple of buttons with static text have to be changed. Ideally these texts should also have been localized. I’m planning to do this in the next release

Translation was not that easy, translating of metadata was an issue. The translator asked: What is metadata?  Well that is the description of the application that the potential buyer should read. Anyway after some communication the agreement went fine. The metadata and the program messages and labels were translated correctly. Some clarification on how financial terms like “True Rate” had to be done.

The plan seems a little optimistic – Apple normally uses at least a week for approval of a small change of an app – some times even more. According to the their latest information from their development pages claims that 89 percent of all apps are approved within two weeks. Well, I think this is marketing, sometimes they use up to a month. But sending email, requesting for update on progress, to their support site may help.

Anyway, everything can be made ready, the testing, the metadata can be updated in iTunes connect whilst waiting on approval from Apple.

Summary with experience

Process: Approvals from Apple takes more time than anticipated. After submitting the app for review it took over one month to get approval, I had to change only one icon, which was not correct according to their Human interface Guidelines (HIG). It seems like apple is prioritizing the word wide app store. I submitted an update on at the same time to the English version of the same app; this was approved within 2 weeks.

Testing will also require some focus, be prepared to do a full regression test to ensure that all changes are moved in correct. Although you used Localization on all your fields and text labels.  One or two error might slip through, hence detail testing is important.

Technical issues: Text have different length between each language, althoug you may have added Localization, the fields will vary in length. Be prepared to adjust some of your design. Yes, you can set to scale, but then the presentation will look a little funny see screen shot below.

So the technical aspect of the translation is pretty straightforward.

Summary: With only focusing on the technical part, it is possible to translate an App within two weeks. However, adding the delay in the approval process – the elapsed time is more like two months.

Apple is again using the concept, which is a really good pattern to split the Model, the Views and the controller. However, it takes some time to master the concept and I think that those unfamilar to object orientation and objects may struggle a bit before they can understand it fully.

IPhone Development. So, now I’m having fun with xCode and Objective C although similar to Smalltalk it does have some differences such as garbage collection. But using  “release” on variables soon becomes a habit.

Why here? IPhone Development and development for smart telephones is a pretty new area.  Yes, I know that app store just celebrated their one year anniversary, but still in IT context it is pretty new. And I’m planning to take part on this fine new journey – and marked which opens up. I have already launched my first app in the app store  – True iLoan  Loan Calculator – check it out, push here

I will on regular basis update my blog on different subjects. So please comment and interact.

I’m here for learning – and I learn most by being active and having lively discussions.