ShadoCMS Jumps On the Localization Train

By Irina Guseva | Published Oct 3, 2008

Straker, with its ShadoCMS v8.5 Web CMS, and Across Systems’ Language Server teamed up to deliver a new localization interface, providing an automated process from web content creation to translation management, publishing and handling of dynamic multilingual content.

The partnership promises to deliver savings above 60% for companies that manage large-scale translations of dynamic web sites. Better late than never, as they say. So, welcome to the global content management party!

Every CMS Aims to Manage Global Content

It is not news anymore that the ability to easily author, translate and publish web content is vital. Straker Interactive, a developer of content management applications with multilingual capabilities, recognized that managing the web content component was only part of the solution.

Straker decided to also recognize the critical need for users to have access to a comprehensive translation management tool to provide an end-to-end solution. Partnering with Across Systems, Straker integrated Across Language Server technology, so that any functionality within Across can now be exposed directly at the web content authoring level in Shado CMS.

Across Language Server

The Across Language Server serves as the central platform for all corporate language resources and translation processes, enabling a connection of translation buyers and external language service providers or native language translators responsible for the creation of multilingual web pages.

It supports professional translators through re-use of previously translated text segments and controls the entire translation workflow, including the systematic review and release of all translations.

With this integration, the editor or project manager can now access the translation functionalities of the Language Server directly from within the Web CMS. Whenever a new web page is created, or an existing web page is updated — the CMS automatically forwards the contents to Across.

In accordance with defined workflows, the translations are processed via the Language Server and subsequently returned to ShadoCMS, making them available for publication on the respective web page.

The localization interface is applicable not only to conventional HTML pages, but also to the RIA’s, Rich Internet Applications, created with Straker’s ZoomFlex tool.

Localization Ain’t An Easy Process

“The degree of automation is unique. The seamless connection of the two systems enables a truly uninterrupted workflow,” says Grant Straker, CEO of Straker Interactive.

Well, let’s face it — localization and automation are hardly synonyms, as it takes a human eye and time and resources to translate a page. Unless, you’re aiming for an automated translation — in which case Google’s translation function will do, too.

Straker will certainly face some competition in the Web CMS globalization market, as almost every vendor nowadays is offering some kind of a localization solution as part of their general web content management offering.

Some companies— like SDL Tridion and its Web CMS solution SDL Tridion R5 — are also offering an established translation and localization practice behind their promises.

Following the surge in globalization and multi-site management popularity, web CMS provider Sitecore has been busy, too. The company released the enhanced globalization tool Foundry 2.0 in September 2008.

Forget localization. How about starting with an addition of a date field to the extended view of news items like press releases on a certain web site? Now, that's groundbreaking. Perhaps, that requires a separate interface, though.