X Resources for Strings

X Resources for Strings

Resource lookup mechanisms in Xlib as well as in toolkits monitor locale environment variables when locating resource files. For string constants that are used within toolkit objects, resources provide a simpler solution than do message catalogs.

These are some common objects that should definitely get their text from resources:

Labels
Buttons
Menu items
Dialog notices and questions

Any object that employs some sort of text label should be labeled via resources. Since the localizer wants to provide strings for the local version of the application, the app-defaults file for the application should specify every reasonable string resource. Reference pages should identify all localizable string resources.

Localizers of an application provide a separate resource file for each locale that the application runs in.