How to localize your apps more easily
Localization is one of those topics that never seems to get in-depth coverage: most developers largely ignore the topic, and others don’t even know how it works.
Regardless of how much you already localize your apps, Marco Santarossa has written a great set of tips to help you get started, including:
- Extending String to make your code shorter.
- Switching to enums for extra safety.
- Using
@IBInspectableto localize UIKit components in IB. - Pluralizing strings with numbers.
I’ve written similar code for localizing UIKit components, but his enum approach is brilliant in its simplicity. Of course, if Xcode actually had codegen for strings this wouldn’t be a problem, but until then I suggest you check out his article. Don't worry if you're completely new to localization – Marco gives you just enough at the beginning to help you get started, so there really is no excuse for not trying it.
Link: App Localization Tips With Swift
About the author
Paul Hudson is the creator of Hacking with Swift, the most comprehensive series of Swift books in the world. He's also the editor of Swift Developer News, the maintainer of the Swift Knowledge Base, and Mario Kart world champion. OK, so that last part isn't true. If you're curious you can learn more here.
