Locale

This page provides a brief overview of:

• What is locale?
• Which locale parameters are directly configurable in Magnolia.

What is locale?

Nevertheless, the set of locale parameters is much broader than just the parameter for language. Any operation that requires a locale to perform its task is locale-sensitive. For example, even displaying a number may be a locale-sensitive operation: the number should be formatted according to the conventions of the user's native country, region, or culture.

Locale parameters

The following is a list of the most common locale parameters that one should be aware of when implementing a locale-sensitive operation:

• Language
  • For instance, British English: en_UK vs American English: en_US .
  • See the Site and AdminCentral locales page for configuration in Magnolia and java.util.Locale .
• Time zone
  • Nine standard time zones in the USA, for example.
    
  • See the Time zone subpage and java.util.TimeZone .
• Date-time format
  • UK: 14 March 2016 vs US: March 14, 2016 . For details see java.text.DateFormat .
• Number format
  
  • English: 3.14 vs Czech: 3,14 , for details see java.text.NumberFormat .
• Paper size
  
  • US, Canada and other countries: ANSI Letter vs ISO A4 in many other nations.
• Currency format
  • Please refer to Currency codes - ISO 4217, listing currency codes used in banking and business globally.

Further resources

• Internationalization: Understanding Locale in the Java Platform (by John O'Conner)
• Locale (computer software) (Wikipedia)
• Decimal mark: Influence of calculators and computers (Wikipedia)
• Writing paper and certain classes of printed matter - ISO 216:2007
• Country Codes - ISO 3166