Layout

Layout

Layout management is of special interest when you cannot predict how large a button or other label might be. The nature of the problem of layout composition and management does not change, but one must construct the layout management without full knowledge of the final appearance.

It's worth noting that localization efforts can be assumed to be "reasonable" in some sense. For example, X resources have always allowed a user to specify an extremely large font for buttons, but applications correctly choose to let such users live with the results. But it's not always that clear what is reasonable and what isn't; you don't always know what will be difficult to translate succinctly in some locale. So while you need not provide for all combinations of resource specifications, you must make the application localizable.

Three main approaches to the layout problem are described below: dynamic layout, constant layout, and localized layout

Dynamic Layout

Most toolkits provide form, pane, rowcolumn, or other layout objects that calculate layout depending on the "natural" (localized) size of the objects involved. Most use some hints provided by the developer that can regulate this layout. For example, some IRIS IM widgets providing these services are XmForm, XmPanedWindow, and XmRowColumn.

Dynamic layout is probably the simplest way to prevent localization difficulties.

Note: The IRIS IM product is the Silicon Graphics port of the OSF/Motif product, and should not be confused with IM, the abbreviation for Input Methods.

Constant Layout

Under certain circumstances, an application may insist on having a predefined layout. When this is so, the application must provide objects that are constructed to allow localization. A "Quit" button that just barely allows room for the Latin 1 string "Quit" is not likely to suffice when localizers attempt to fit their translations into that small space.

In order to enforce constant layout, the developer incurs the heavy responsibility of making sure the objects are localizable. This means a lot of investigation; the "there, that ought to be enough" approach is chancy at best.

Localized Layout

Some toolkits provide for layout control by run-time reading of strings or other data files. Applications that use such toolkits can easily finesse the layout issue by providing the capability for localization of the layout, as well as localization of the contents of the layout. This provides each localizer maximum freedom in presenting the application to the local users. The application developer is responsible for providing localizers with instructions and the mechanisms necessary to produce layout data.

IRIS IM Localization with editres

IRIX provides an interactive method of laying out widgets for IRIS IM and Xaw (the Athena Widget Set): a utility called editres. With editres, you can construct and edit resources and see how your widgets will look on the screen; the program even generates a usable app-defaults file for you. But note that if you hard-code any resources into your IRIS IM code, you won't be able to edit them using this method.