Why read this post?

In the last year Growl has gone through a lot of changes, and translation is one of the big ones. We’ve gone from not actively translating Growl and our other applications at all, to making it a priority. This change has gotten us from under 10 languages that were starting to stagnate due to my stubbornness for doing it right, to 24 languages which are between 95% and 100% completed because we are closer to doing things right. This is a huge change for us, and it’s time to share how we did it so that others can follow similar steps.

What’s all this?

For anyone who is involved in the process of making software, making sure that the end user/customer is able to use your application is usually priority number 1. But what if the person using your software doesn’t speak the same language that you do? Luckily on most platforms you can translate (or have someone else...

I read a post by some guy talking about how the compuhyperglobalmeganet is “still the place”.

Luckily he’s wrong. Using “still” implies that eventually the web won’t be the place, but then he goes on to sell the web dev platform. I’m confused, but whatever. :)

The web is not the only place to do work. But you all already know what the counter to this is don’t you? The whole integration aspect of an application is key. The way an app works (web or not). The responsiveness of an app (desktop or not).

And usually the person making the argument for or against web development or app development is really just arguing for their choice in their development platform. Someone who works on web 5.0 applications with php.activex.net.rails is of course going to want more people to write applications in their favorite language/sdk. Anyone who works on a desktop app is going to deride that web...

Captcha’s are a requirement on the world nowadays. It seems like at almost every turn I have to enter a captcha. Posting and searching seem to be the two heaviest hitters in the “requires a captcha to use our website”. The oddest one I’ve seen is when purchasing something. I figure my credit card would handle the whole “I’m a real person” perspective.

I’m overall OK with captcha’s though, as long as I can read them. However, it’s not the image but the input line that is beyond annoying. There’s something about them that just does not make any sense to me. Simply put, I do not understand why the input line uses spell check. It just doesn’t make sense. If the spell check actually guesses the word, then you defeat the purpose of the captcha. If it doesn’t and puts in some other word, either the user does not notice the change until it is too late and they get thrown back into the next...