Jason Terhorst

Do It In Strings

If the frameworks on which you’re building your app provide relatively easy localization, you’re hurting yourself if you don’t do as much as possible in text that can be translated with that framework.If you’re using Cocoa, this doesn’t mean Interface Builder. Do it in code, adding NSLocalizedString as you go along. You’ll thank me later. Adding this later on is a big pain. Having it in NIBs, where the translators will miss some things, is an even bigger pain. If it’s in images, you might as well take that fork and jam it into your eye now and get it over with, because you’re in for a world of hurt.

Sure, you can localize those, but having it in text files that are easy drag-and-drop replacements saves you a LOT of headache.