18.1 Creating an International Application

To reach worldwide audiences, you need to design Windows applications so that they can be marketed in more than one country and modified for new markets. International applications must be country- and language-independent and easy to localize.

A Windows application, regardless of the language used in its interface, should
be able to handle data from different countries and in different languages. For
example, a database developed primarily for the English-speaking market should accept French and German input. The application should also support different currency symbols and date and time formats. Furthermore, it should permit complex operations, such as sorting, in any language selected by the user.

A Windows application should be developed so that localization can be easily accomplished. Localization is the process of adapting an application for a market other than the one for which it was originally designed. Adapting an application involves translating the product, adding new features when required, and modifying the product to meet local needs.