This may only appeal to weird completists like me, but I’ve created an unofficial localisation of MindNode to use British spelling in the UI to match the rest of my operating system. It’s also to keep up with the times, since it’s increasingly common to offer at least two English variants. The US-only thing is kind of ’90s Microsoft.
Along with the obvious changes like colour and centre, I’ve changed ‘check’ to ‘tick’ when referring to selections. I’ve made unofficial localisations and edits to pre-existing localisations for several years, but this is the first time I’ve shared one!
I used MindNode 6.0 to create the text files. This applies specifically to the Mac version; I don’t know how to create custom translations for iPhone apps without jailbreaking. (I wish I could, though!) I can’t guarantee whether the text will match up well with previous versions.
Installation instructions
Go to the /Applications/ folder and find MindNode.app. Right- or Option-click, select ‘Show Package Contents’ from the contextual menu and double-click the Resources folder. Unzip this folder and place the included en_gb.lproj folder inside it. Authenticate your log-in credentials if the Finder asks you to.
If your Mac’s system language is set to English (United Kingdom) in System Preferences, then MindNode should display British English the next time it’s launched. If not, you can change your system language in System Preferences. Alternatively, you can download an app like App Language Switcher in the Mac App Store to change an app language individually, or change it via the command line using Terminal:
defaults write $(mdls -name kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier -raw /Applications/MindNode.app) AppleLanguages “(en_GB)”
Disclaimer
- This is an UNOFFICIAL localisation. Install at your own risk! I don’t expect there to be any problems—it’s a standard way of adding custom languages to Mac applications—but you never know.
- If I’ve missed any spellings or vocabulary, please let me know! While I’m pretty decent with English code-switching, I’m not perfect. I think I’ve caught the most blatant ones, though—all instances of ‘colour’ and the like should be written the British way now.
- If you want to comment defending the wonders of American writing standards and the uselessness of British, Canadian or other variants, don’t waste your keystrokes. Offering a second choice doesn’t mean the first choice is wrong. If you don’t like it, don’t use it.