Lokalise is a translation management web service for developers, by developers.
The original idea came once we have faced the actual problem of localization while planning to roll out our previous project, Roamer App, in 10 languages. It turned out there is no straight forward way to do that, all the translation agencies requested either Excel or Word files, the process was tedious and unorganized.
It started with the development of our own "raw" version of the translation editor, which then grew into a separate product, Lokalise. It is still growing feature wise as we have decided that it might solve similar problems for developers like us. Once launched, Lokalise has shown good organic growth; we were lucky to get extensive feedback from early adopters that allowed us to improve and extend the platform. Another remarkable milestone was the launch of iOS framework, which in conjunction with the API and the platform has dramatically increased the efficiency of localization management and speed of end-user product delivery.
In detail, the process of software localization and translation generally involves several stages – first, the coder has to prepare the app or website for localization by defining translation keys (for example index.welcome). The keys are then assigned values, which are the actual translations. A single key may have multiple values, depending on the number of languages, so index.welcome becomes "Welcome!" in English and "Wilkommen!" in German. Once the keys are defined, it is necessary to store them in specifically formatted files (and there are many different formats depending on employed platforms such as iOS, Web etc.) which are then used with project code. Mid-size iOS or Android app usually have 500-1000 keys, requiring tens of thousands of entries if translated into many languages. Managing structured text files becomes a nightmare, as there is a constant need to synchronize all of the changes and versions between all the people.
Lokalise also provides iOS/Android over-the-air update frameworks, merged Android/iOS keys and many other unique features. Lokalise consists of the platform (the web app itself) that is the core of the system. It includes a web panel for managing projects, the editor, reporting and statistics module and all the other service modules available at lokalise.co. Standalone services include the import/exporter modules for most popular file formats (like Apple string, plist, xliff, Android xml, Web php more