Designing Web Navigation

TRANSLATING LABELS

The World Wide Web is just that: worldwide. Many international companies have web presences in various market countries based on a common web interface. This usually means the same page layout appears in different languages. In translating navigation labels from one language to another there are several aspects to look out for:

Label length

Words in one language may require significantly more real estate than in another. All navigation mechanisms have limits, some more than others. If flexibility for various label lengths is not built into the interface, translated labels may not fit.

Additionally, some languages have compound words that don't separate and wrap easily on the screen. A four-word label in French may actually be as long as a German translation of the same term, but the German label may appear as one long term without break. The French label would wrap normally, while a single German would not. Consider these three terms for the same concept, here in English, French, and German:

Job Creation Scheme

Programme de création d'emplois

Arbeitsbeschäftigungsmaβnahmen

As a general rule of thumb, translated labels may require up to fifty percent more space than the original language. Where this is not possible, be sure to account for the longest term possible in the page design.

Grammar

Navigation labels that rely on a specific syntax or grammatical construction may present problems in translation. The labeling system must account for this. There are several differences ...