Abstract

Internationalization (I18N) gained much momentum in recent years. Even the latest HTML 4.0 public draft has taken great strides towards the internationalization of documents, with the goal of making the Web truly “World Wide”.

This paper starts with describing the various development in HTML standards that has made the Web a more global definition. It then points out the fact that the correct display and rendering of multilingual text is only half the scenario for I18N. Users not only wish to view I18N HTML document, they want to create them! With this in mind, it then goes on to explain why Java had not completely fulfilled its role as an I18N development platform, especially in the area on native keyboard input methods.

To meet this shortcoming, this paper explains how the development of a Java Input Method Engine (JIME) fills the gap. It continues with description of the design issues and implementation of the framework—an applet, a Netscape Composer plug-in and a Unicode-based multilingual text editor. It ends with an account of ongoing development on JIME.

In conclusion, it would be ideal if Java have included full native keyboard input method support in the core APIs. An early preview of JDK 1.2 sees an input methods being introduced but perhaps only the next iteration of Java releases may offer full input method support regardless of the locale of the host platform.

Author Keywords: Internationalization/localization; Java; Native keyboard input methods; Multilingual; Unicode

Article Outline

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