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Internationalization (i18n) Guidelines

Internationalization (i18n) is a requirement across all KIC applications and backend services. Since the community includes a significant number of refugees who primarily speak arabic, every user-facing feature must be designed with localization in mind.

Current State of Internationalization

✅ Cloud Functions

All server-side notifications (e.g., athan alerts, iqamah reminders, announcements) are internationalized before being sent to Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM).

  • Each notification is translated into supported languages using locale.json.
  • Clients receive the correct localized message depending on their language/topic subscription.

✅ Mobile App

The Flutter Mobile App is fully internationalized:

  • UI components, labels, and system messages are all language-aware.
  • Users can switch languages in-app, with translations loaded dynamically.
  • Notifications received from the backend are displayed in the correct language automatically.

⚠️ Kiosk App

The SvelteKit Kiosk App is NOT YET internationalized:

  • Currently, it only displays English text.
  • This is an area to focus on in future development:
    • UI strings should be stored in translation files rather than hard-coded.
    • Language selection should be configurable (e.g., default Masjid language or a rotating display).
    • Consistency with mobile app translations where possible.

Guidelines for Developers

  1. Never hardcode strings in UI or notifications.
    Store them in translation files (JSON, ARB, or similar) and load dynamically. The Flutter mobile app already utilizes the Flutter Internationlization package to facilitate this.

  2. Follow the existing localization pattern in your repo.
    For example:

  3. Flutter: .arb files with intl package.
  4. Cloud Functions: locale.json and topic-based FCM notifications.

  5. Future Kiosk App (Not yet implemented): JSON translation files and i18n libraries.

  6. Always add translations for every new feature:

  7. New notification types.
  8. New UI components.

  9. Error messages and system alerts.

  10. Test with multiple languages before merging changes.
    Missing translations or fallback to English should be logged and fixed.