Optimizing jar file size (images) when developing java client supporting multiple languages

Question

I am developing the Java client which should support several languages. For translation of the text I use Java ResourceBoundle and it works okay.

Now the problem is with images. The client should load around 50 images which are specific cards for a board game. Each image has a title. So if I have N languages I should prepare 50*N images and put then into the jar file.

Each language support would add around 1 Mb to the size of jar file.

Do you think I should

1. Generate jar which support all the languages?
2. Generate many jars which would support English and a local language?
3. Have one set of image without titles and attach title to the image using Java JLabel?

Answer 1

I advise another option altogether.

Have a set of images without text, and use AWT's Graphics2D to add the text in the necessary language (as opposed to doing so with a JLabel).

Graphics2D g = imageBase.createGraphics();
// color, font, etc settings
g.drawString("title", 0, 0);
g.dispose();

You can modify the parameters of g.drawString as necessary to draw the correct title at the correct coordinates. If you wish to center the title, you can find a nice tutorial here .