A comprehensive guide to internationalization (i18n) and localization (l10n) for frontend developers, covering 10 practical rules. Topics include using ICU Message Format, externalizing strings, handling plurals and gender, avoiding string concatenation, locale-aware date/number formatting with native JS APIs like Intl, designing flexible UIs for text expansion and RTL languages, using CSS logical properties, enforcing UTF-8 encoding, and choosing fonts with broad Unicode coverage. Also touches on backend localization strategy, recommending that backends serve raw data while frontends handle presentation.
Table of contents
Preface Copy link Link copied!What are those fancy acronyms? Copy link Link copied!i18n and l10n - What's The Difference? Copy link Link copied!Why Should Developers Care About Locales and Culture? Copy link Link copied!What Exactly Is a Locale? Copy link Link copied!The 10 Rules of Frontend i18n Copy link Link copied!Beyond Frontend: A Note on Backend Localization Copy link Link copied!Conclusion - Think Global from the Start Copy link Link copied!2 Impressions