What are pre-built API integrations? How are they different from API endpoints?
Definition: Pre-built API Integrations: These are ready-made connections between two or more software applications. Pre-built integrations are often developed by third-party providers or the software vendors themselves to facilitate the seamless exchange of data between different systems. API Endpoints: An API endpoint is a specific URL or URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) that an API exposes to enable communication with other software applications. It represents a specific function or resource that developers can access and interact with.
Purpose: Pre-built API Integrations: The purpose of pre-built integrations is to simplify the process of connecting two or more software applications without requiring users to build custom integrations from scratch. These integrations are often designed to work with popular software and services. API Endpoints: API endpoints provide a way for developers to interact with a specific aspect or functionality of a software application. They are the entry points for accessing the features and data offered by an API.
Customization: Pre-built API Integrations: These integrations are generally designed to work out of the box with minimal configuration. While some customization options may be available, they are not as flexible as building a custom solution using API endpoints. API Endpoints: Developers can use API endpoints to build custom integrations tailored to their specific needs. They have more control over how data is retrieved, processed, and utilized.
Flexibility: Pre-built API Integrations: These integrations are convenient for common use cases, but they may not cover every possible scenario. Users might be limited by the features provided by the pre-built integration. API Endpoints: Using API endpoints allows for greater flexibility and control. Developers can choose which endpoints to use and how to structure requests and responses based on their requirements.
Development Effort: Pre-built API Integrations: These require minimal development effort, making them suitable for users who want a quick and easy way to connect different software applications. API Endpoints: Building custom solutions using API endpoints requires more development effort, but it provides the advantage of tailored functionality and control.
So if I use your pre-built Swift integration, then my iOS app will be continuously localized? Is it really that simple?
It really is! We'll automatically upload text from your xcode project (NIBs, XIBs, Storyboards, objective-C, SwiftUI, etc.) to your project on the Strings platform. Simply choose your languages and Strings will translate the text in a few minutes and import them into your xcode project.
Is the translation quality high? How can I know without having to manually QA?
We've received really positive feedback from all of our developers on the quality of the translations. We highly recommend developers take advantage of our Translation Context feature. Right now you can provide a summary of what your app is, which we provide to the LLM as a context cue. For words you don't want translated, you can whitelist them and they will remain untouched.
You have full control and direct access to make any one-off changes to translations.
We will eventually automate translation quality QA by assigning a confidence index to each string of text using techniques such as reverse translations and search quality ratings.
Is my data secure?
At Strings, we follow best data security practices and we make sure our partners do as well. That's why we use OpenAI.
Strings connects to Open AI through an API, to securely send data back and forth. Once data leaves Strings, it’s transferred through Transport Layer Security (TLS) to secure both data in transit and at rest. This means your data is protected throughout its lifecycle.
Open AI adheres to rigorous security certifications, including ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, and GDPR. Strings has plans to be SOC 2 Type II certified by EOY 2024 and add IEC/ISO 27001 and its extension, IEC/ISO 27017 by EOY 2025. This demonstrate our commitment to data privacy, security, and regulatory compliance.
Data Handling Practices Strings follows strict data handling procedures, including data minimization, purpose limitation, and secure deletion when data is no longer needed. OpenAI will not use your data for training purposes — neither will Strings — or metadata sent from Strings through their API, unless you explicitly opt in. To help identify abuse in model usage, Open AI may securely retain data for up to 30 days. After this period, it will be permanently deleted from OpenAI’s systems.
Regular Security Audits Open AI takes a proactive approach to security audits to ensure the integrity and resilience of their infrastructure. They carry out regular security audits to identify any weaknesses or gaps in security measures, allowing for prompt action.
Safeguarding Against Data Leaks Protecting confidential corporate information is a top priority at Strings and Open AI. We take measures to prevent data leaks and unauthorized access to sensitive data, including monitoring user data for potential leaks, implementing strict access controls, and educating employees on data privacy and security protocols. Monitor and Detect Threats Continuously Open AI uses advanced security monitoring tools to detect and mitigate potential security threats in real-time. Continuous threat detection helps maintain a secure AI translation environment and provides early warning of potential breaches.
Strings only uses the following data to translate your content: - Source content and translated content (in some features) - Metadata about languages - Metadata about keys and translations (e.g. character limit, key description, translation context) - Glossary terms - Additional context provided for AI jobs
What if my codebase isn't internationalized (i18n) and needs refactoring? Does Strings help with this?
We will be providing out-of-the-box linters and AI-powered code refactoring
What are linters and why are they important? Linters is the process of performing static analysis on source code to flag patterns that might cause errors or other problems. As an application progresses through the various stages of development, code quality becomes critical. It's important because it will solve for things like ensuring you're using number formatters instead of hardcoding.
UI bugs due to translation lengths and right-to-left languages are common. Does Strings help with this?
If the UI bug is due to translation length, developers are able to directly trigger a re-translation with a specified character length. If the UI bug is due to right-to-left languages, then the solution will be platform dependent. If you've developed your app with Swift, then system-provided UI frameworks already support right-to-left (RTL) by default, allowing system-provided UI components to flip automatically in the RTL context. This may not be the case for other platforms.
If you have any questions, please reach out to hello@strings.dev
Making my app accessible to a multilingual audience is exciting but my customer support team is primarily English-only. Does Strings help with this?
We've heard this concern from companies of all sizes and we know how big of a deal this is from a support cost perspective. That's why we will be providing pre-built API integrations for common support tools like Freshdesk, Intercom, Zendesk, Front, etc.
We manage content and communications with separate apps. Does Strings help with this?
Many of our customers use apps like Twilio, Sendgrid, Braze, Hubspot, etc. and we will absolutely be providing pre-built API integrations for easy setup and maintenance.
