## 1. Project Overview

Welcome to the Netscape Communicator/Navigator Localization Kit!

This localization kit will assist you in creating a localized version of Netscape Communicator or Navigator for the 32-bit Windows platform. Using the instructions and optionally, the tools provided in this kit, you can translate the product's menus, dialogs and error messages to the language of your choice. As long as you follow the terms of the license agreement under which this kit is distributed, you are free to do what you want with the resulting localized product.

Localizing the Netscape client is based on "binary" or "no-compile"localization model. Instead of localizing resource script (.RC) files, which must be recompiled to produce a working localized version, you work directly on the binary resource module (.DLL or .EXE) files. You have access to localization notes to assist and guide you through some of the trickier areas of the product. Finally, this kit contains several tools developed by Netscape to expedited the localization process; however, you may, if you prefer, work with the localization tools of your choice.

The no-compile localization model offers a number of key benefits over source file translation:

- A simpler kit environment - no make files or bulky source trees are required.
- Leveraging previous translations is simpler when resources can be stored in a database, decreasing translation time.
- "Forbidden" resources can be locked from over-translation, improving the quality of translated products.
Localization notes and instructions can be displayed along side the actual resource being localized, allowing the translator immediate access to this information.

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