Geek2Geek Answers: PSD File Prep & Favorite Localization Tools

May 24, 2012 by Jon Ritzdorf
Category: Q&A, Language Translation Services, Localization

Here are two recent questions that I answered via our Acclaro Twitter account:

Q: What's the best setup for a PSD file that will be localized for French, Spanish and Italian?

A: Here are three tips for your preparing your PSD file for translation in any language:

  1. Keep all text layers editable (don't flatten or rasterize)
  2. Color-code layers with text for translation
  3. Zip up the PSD file and all specialty fonts and place on FTP or send via email to your localization agency

Q: What are some of your favorite localization tools?

  • Okapi "Rainbow": it's the Swiss army knife of localization engineers everywhere. It can do nearly everything from preparing resource files, to encoding conversions to localization QA tasks. Definitely in my top five tools.
  • Beyond Compare: not a localization tool per se, but a programmers tool to allow for quick comps of two files on both a folder and file level.
  • EmEditor: there are thousands of text editors out there, but only a handful can handle every single character encoding of languages.
  • Send me your questions on localization and translation:

    • Via Twitter, ask your question using the hash tag #geek2geek
    • Send me your question via email: geek2geek@acclaro.com

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