Configure fonts for a target language
Configure the fonts for a target language so that translated text items are displayed in another font, size, and/or style that is more appropriate to the language.
Before you begin this task, you should have already added one target language to your project’s Translation Table.
By default, when you change your project’s runtime appearance to one of the target languages in the Translation Table, the translated text items are still displayed in their original font, size, and style. This can cause many different problems, depending on the target language. For example, if the target language uses a non-Roman character set, or it typically has longer or shorter words, or it is read right-to-left instead of left-to-right, then the screen objects with translated text items may not be displayed correctly.
You can use the Font Configuration tool on the Translation Table worksheet to configure new fonts, sizes, and styles for the translated text items. When you set your project’s interface to the target language, the translated text items will be changed to the new configuration. The configuration can be either very general or very specific — just add more rows for more specific changes.
If you have two or more rows that conflict with each other — for example, if one row applies to all objects and another row applies only to Button objects — then the row that most specifically matches a given text item is the one that is applied.
For more information, see “Examples” below.
To configure fonts:
- Open the Translation Table worksheet by doing one of the following.
- On the Insert tab of the ribbon, in the Global group, click Translation; or
- In the Global tab of the Project Explorer, double-click Translation.
The Translation Table worksheet is opened for editing.
- In the Target languages area, select the language for which you want to configure fonts, and then click Fonts. This font configuration applies only to the selected target language. The Font Configuration dialog box is displayed.
Figure 1. Font Configuration dialog box
- In the Object column, select the type of screen objects that the configuration will apply to. To have it apply to all types, select (All).
- In the Source Font column, select the font that the configuration will apply to. To have it apply to all fonts, select (All). The list of selectable fonts includes all fonts that are installed on your computer, not just the fonts that are used in your project.
- In the Source Size column, type the font size (in points) that the configuration will apply to. To have it apply to all sizes, type (All).
- In the Source Style column, select the font styles that the configuration will apply to. To have it apply to all styles, select (All).
- In the Source RTL column, select the reading direction (left-to-right or right-to-left) that the configuration will apply to. To have it apply to both, select (All).
- In the Target Font column, select the font to which the Source Font should be changed. If you want to leave the Source Font unchanged, select *. The list of selectable fonts includes all fonts that are installed on your computer.
Tip: Make sure that the font you select is also installed on any computers or devices that will run as project runtime clients. If you cannot do this — in other words, if you do not control all of the potential clients — then select a “standard” font that is commonly installed on all platforms.
- In the Target Size column, type the font size (in either points or percentage) to which the Source Size should be changed. If you want to leave the Source Size unchanged, type *.
- In the Target Style column, select the font style to which the Source Style should be changed. If you want to leave the Source Style unchanged, select *.
- In the Target RTL column, select the reading direction (left-to-right or right-to-left) to which the Source RTL should be changed. If you want to leave the Source RTL unchanged, select *.
- Repeat this procedure for additional rows, if necessary.
- Click OK to save the configuration and close the dialog box.