Some applications use plain English words, such as, CONNECT, COPY, MOVE, as commands and keywords. Sometimes you need to translate these command words into the user's own language to retain the natural language intuitiveness. If, however, the commands and keywords are universally understood, it may be preferable to retain their original English forms.
Example: Consider the list of keywords used in the following fields:
- Computer programming languages, such as if, else, and while
- Networking protocols, such as CONNECT, and DISCONNECT.
Translating the keywords into other natural languages will hinder the portability of the program source code in the first case, and may render other applications not recognizing your communication requests in the second case.
Guideline A9
Inputs such as commands, keywords, and responses, are UI and must, therefore, follow the rules for UI (such as isolation, packaging and tracking) and be translatable. |
If your application user interface follows the IBM Common User Access (CUA) guidelines in the Object-Oriented Interface Design, IBM Common User Access Guidelines, SC34-4399, there is little need for your users to enter direct commands. Selection menus and action bars eliminate the need for a command line interface. When your application also supports a command line interface, you must recognize the commands entered in both the original English forms and the translated language forms, if they exist.
Example: If a command parser for a file manager uses the command DELETE and its synonym DEL, you can use the English command and its synonym in any NL version, but the French version can also recognize the French equivalents: SUPPRESSION and SUPPR. |
