Globalization and Silverlight 2Poornima Priyadarshini

Shawn Steele

What is Silverlight?“Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform,

and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive

applications for the Web”

Web and Media: Then …

Web and Media: Then and NowSilverlight 2 “lights up” www.NBCOlympics.com

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Global Broadband Households by Region(Source: Strategy Analytics, 12/2005)

North America CALA EMEA Asia Pacific

0.91

1.49

2.21

3.16

3.844.23

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Total Internet Video Ad Revenue (Billions)(Source: Yankee Group 12/2006

Web Video Adoption on the Rise

Web Video Ad Revenue is SoaringGrowing Broadband Adoption

55% of online video

consumed will be user-

generated (by 2010)(Source: Screen Digest December 2006)

Video streams viewed per

month will rise from

3bn (2006) to 12.4bn (2010)

(Source: Parks & Assoc. 12/2006)

Compelling Cross-Platform User Experiences

Seamless, fast installation for end users

Consistent experiences on Mac & Windows

Stunning vector-based graphics, media, text, animation and overlay

Dramatically improved performance

Flexible programming model with collaboration tools

Similar to the .NET Framework SDK

Choice of development languages

Integration with existing Web technologies

Role specific tools for designers / developers

Low cost, high quality media

Broad media ecosystem

Tools for live and on-demand publishing

Connected to data, servers and services

Easily mash-up and incorporate services and data

Increase discoverability/searchability

Rapidly scale applications with Silverlight Streaming service

Flexible, Connected Media Across Platforms

Managed Code (C#/VB)XAML

PublicInternetmashup APIs

ExistingIntranetservices

New servicesyou build

RSS/AtomFeeds

ImagesSoundsVideos

HTML

The Story Today: Silverlight 2

Compelling Cross-Platform Experiences:

Supported browsers

Supported platforms

Unified programming model

Windows? Apple OSX? It doesn’t matter – it works on both platforms

Silverlight Audiences

Content ProvidersEngage visitors with highest quality interactive web sites,

video and game experiences with lower costs

Designers / Developers Role-specific suite of tools for designers and developers

using existing skills and domain knowledge and building on

existing application investments

Viewers / End UsersSites “light up” equally on Windows and Mac, with a one-time, fast install

Coordinates

MapProviderMap images

Interaction With the Outside World

What makes Silverlight different?

Small download size

Web based client applications

Consistent cross-browser experience

Familiar C# & Visual Basic API set

Powerful user controls

Globalization in Silverlight vs. .Net

Silverlight Only supports Unicode

UTF-8 and UTF-16 are supported for I/O

.NET supports multiple encodings.

Globalization data

Silverlight Depends on the OS for globalization data.

.NET is consistent cross-OS

Silverlight is limited to the data of the underlying OS.

Reduced API surface area for target market

Custom cultures are supported as available in the OS

Globalization in Silverlight vs. Windows

Silverlight relies on Windows for globalization data

Culture set and data set depends on OS

Newer OSes like Vista have newer data.

Silverlight uses RFC 4646 style culture names

Windows still supports Microsoft LCIDs (locale ids)

Supports Unicode as the only character encoding

Windows still allows ANSI code pages

Globalization in Silverlight vs. OS X

OS X utilizes different paradigms than Microsoft products

Silverlight has to adapt the OS API and data differences

Apple users have different expectations than Windows users

Silverlight has to make sure our APIs fit those expectations

Applications may need to adapt to those expectations

OS X supports multiple UI fallback languages

OS X allows selecting language, formatting, calendars and

sorting independently

Globalization Essentials

Usability and Localizability

Unicode

Sorting behavior

Culture data

Usability and Localizability

Users expect an appropriately globalized experience

Many Globalization APIs are useful for presentation

Globalization support varies by OS

Data also varies by OS and user overrides

Globalized applications provide a good user experience

Users needing globalization support live in your market.

International businesses may have global needs.

Consumers may need globalization @ home or with friends.

Expatriates may need global formats

Unicode

UTF -8 is the default encoding

Unicode Normalization

Windows normally provides composed data

OS X typically uses decomposed forms.

OS X can change the normalization form

Normalization APIs are not provided (NFC/NFD, etc.)

Unicode properties aren’t OS dependent.

Unicode character properties are available.

Sorting & Casing

Depends on the OS data

Silverlight is intended for presentation

Some strings won’t be defined on all OS’s.

Sorts won’t be available on all OS’s.

Sorts that are available will change orders.

Culture sensitive comparisons may differ.

Native strings can grow in OS X when changing case, but in

Silverlight that is not expected.

Sorting Differences

Sachiko (OS X)Sachiko (Vista)

Differences in the sorting of various Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji versions of

the name “Sachiko”

Culture & Region Data

Depends on the OS data

Supported Cultures vary by OS

OS X can always find a locale, but it may only return root data.

Windows provides individual data for each locale that succeeds.

Data values and properties vary by OS

OS X uses CLDR data and methodology

Windows provides its own data

Cultural Variations

Danish (Vista)

Hong Kong

(Server 2003)

Hong Kong (Vista) Hawaiian

(Vista Custom Locale)

Hawaiian (OS X)Danish (OS X)

Best Practices

Use Unicode (easy for Silverlight)

Use the appropriate culture data

Use globalization for presentation…

… not for machine readable values

Assume the data will change

Watch formatting and parsing APIs

(make sure you’re doing what you think you’re doing)

Build once, but test everywhere

Best Practices (more)

Assume that machines will disagree about data.

Clients and servers may have different perspectives.

Clients, even the same OS or user, may vary as well.

Do server stuff on the server and client stuff on the client.

Ensure the target UI culture is supported on your target OS

and have a fallback when it isn’t.

Use the user’s UI culture and preferences.

Multilingual or kiosk apps may need an easy way for the user to

change the machine’s default preference.

Demo

Resourceshttp://silverlight.net/getstarted

http://msdn.microsoft.com/silverlight

http://msdn.microsoft.com/goglobal

http://blogs.msdn.com/shawnste

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com

http://www.codeplex.com

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/results.aspx?

freetext=locale%20builder

Demohttp://www.codeplex.com/SilverTime