# The Java EE 7 Tutorial

# 20 Internationalizing and Localizing Web Applications

The process of preparing an application to support more than one language and data format is called internationalization. Localization is the process of adapting an internationalized application to support a specific region or locale. Examples of locale-dependent information include messages and user interface labels, character sets and encoding, and date and currency formats. Although all client user interfaces should be internationalized and localized, it is particularly important for web applications because of the global nature of the web.

The following topics are addressed here:

- Java Platform Localization Classes

- Providing Localized Messages and Labels

- Date and Number Formatting

- Character Sets and Encodings