Seth Bindernagel has posted the localization schedule for Firefox 3.1 beta 2. The string freeze is going to be on Thursday, October 30 at 11:59pm (Mountain View time), which is just over two weeks from now. Code freeze will be Tuesday, November 4 at 11:59pm (Mountain View time). If you did not make Firefox 3.1 beta 1, we would love for you to participate in this next beta release. We have a goal of releasing a fully localized beta, so please let us know what we can do to help you get into the second beta. For more information and links to the localization team tools, please see Seth’s weblog post.

Seth Bindernagel, Mozilla’s Director of Localization, recently blogged about some steps the Localization Drivers team is taking to increase the visibility of localization activities and improve project communications. The two primary tools they’re using are the Localization Dashboard and the team’s new weekly triage meetings where they ensure that high priority issues are dealt with quickly. Additionally, the team has created a new Firefox 3 l10n release trackers bug, and are working to make it easier for new localization teams to navigate through the early stages of our process. The results of some of these efforts are clear, as Seth announces that there are likely to be 13 more languages added to Firefox in the 3.0.2 and 3.0.3 releases, which is a huge accomplishment in the span of two minor updates. For more about Mozilla’s localization work, see Seth’s full blog post.