Hope for Multi-language - Bilingual support for Concrete5
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Hi everyone.
I've been playing with Concrete5 and it impressed me on it's simplicity and easy to configure templates.
My main concern is the lack of multi-language support. To be more precise, having an option to change language on a site.
I've read almost every topic within this section and didnt find anything concrete. Althought one member did refer that they (The Team) will be working on it this year/this year release? Apart from that, there's no solid instruction.
Is there still hope for seeing a language switch add-on in the not too distant future?
Thanks to all who will answer.
I've been playing with Concrete5 and it impressed me on it's simplicity and easy to configure templates.
My main concern is the lack of multi-language support. To be more precise, having an option to change language on a site.
I've read almost every topic within this section and didnt find anything concrete. Althought one member did refer that they (The Team) will be working on it this year/this year release? Apart from that, there's no solid instruction.
Is there still hope for seeing a language switch add-on in the not too distant future?
Thanks to all who will answer.
Thanks for the quick response frz.
Having 2 sites is not something I'm looking forward to. I'm sure your approach will benifit the cms.
Having 2 sites is not something I'm looking forward to. I'm sure your approach will benifit the cms.
Hi,
Multi-language support would be the defining addon and really put Concrete5 up there at the top.
However, it has to be done correctly.
The best system I have seen for multi-language done this:
Frontend
- When a user clicks to change a language they should NOT be sent back to the homepage, they should shown the new language and still be on the page they were on.
Admin
- Easy addition of new languages.
- When updating texts in the site, there should be no new "page" created for each language level. Instead, have one page and have a "toggle" feature next to the editable text boxes. This will allow administrators to quickly update content anywhere, across all languages, from one page in the admin.
Working Example:
So the admin would login, go to edit page, there would be a block of content, click edit, add english texts, on the right of the box there are flag icons for each language set up, the user can click the next flag, say it is Spanish, they would be presented with a blank content box, add spanish texts, then click the German flag, again, blank content box, add german texts. At anytime they can click back to english or spanish and the relevent texts will still be there. Click save, all texts are saved.
From a front end perspective, when ever the user changes languge the system will show the relevent texts in each block, without the need for a refresh of page and still be on the page they were on and not sent back to the homepage.
I have seen this working with the shopping cart system I use called Summercart (http://www.summercart.com )
Please, Please, Please, go see how they do it and then, somehow, try and implement it into Concrete5.
Multi-language support would be the defining addon and really put Concrete5 up there at the top.
However, it has to be done correctly.
The best system I have seen for multi-language done this:
Frontend
- When a user clicks to change a language they should NOT be sent back to the homepage, they should shown the new language and still be on the page they were on.
Admin
- Easy addition of new languages.
- When updating texts in the site, there should be no new "page" created for each language level. Instead, have one page and have a "toggle" feature next to the editable text boxes. This will allow administrators to quickly update content anywhere, across all languages, from one page in the admin.
Working Example:
So the admin would login, go to edit page, there would be a block of content, click edit, add english texts, on the right of the box there are flag icons for each language set up, the user can click the next flag, say it is Spanish, they would be presented with a blank content box, add spanish texts, then click the German flag, again, blank content box, add german texts. At anytime they can click back to english or spanish and the relevent texts will still be there. Click save, all texts are saved.
From a front end perspective, when ever the user changes languge the system will show the relevent texts in each block, without the need for a refresh of page and still be on the page they were on and not sent back to the homepage.
I have seen this working with the shopping cart system I use called Summercart (http://www.summercart.com )
Please, Please, Please, go see how they do it and then, somehow, try and implement it into Concrete5.
Hey,
I'm working on a completely integrated multi-language system for C5. Currently I have a system to select your language and then view the page in the language of your choice (assuming there is content in that language). I have updated the content block, so that there is a custom menu to choose which language you are editing in and when you save, it saves all languages. It should be easy enough to update all blocks to use this system where applicable.
The bit I'm moving onto now, is content that is static, i.e. coded into page types, themes and views. I'm thinking the best way to do these is the same way as the current language pack system works, using .po / .mo files and wrapping all the text in t().
However, the language packs are built around the base C5 installation. I need to be able to add in strings for custom blocks etc. and change them as and when needed. Does anyone know whether I can install multiple .mo files? Such as
languages/de_DE/LC_MESSAGES/base.mo
languages/de_DE/LC_MESSAGES/mytheme.mo
languages/de_DE/LC_MESSAGES/myblock.mo
Or is this just a silly idea??
Any helpful suggestions appreciated! :)
Jon
I'm working on a completely integrated multi-language system for C5. Currently I have a system to select your language and then view the page in the language of your choice (assuming there is content in that language). I have updated the content block, so that there is a custom menu to choose which language you are editing in and when you save, it saves all languages. It should be easy enough to update all blocks to use this system where applicable.
The bit I'm moving onto now, is content that is static, i.e. coded into page types, themes and views. I'm thinking the best way to do these is the same way as the current language pack system works, using .po / .mo files and wrapping all the text in t().
However, the language packs are built around the base C5 installation. I need to be able to add in strings for custom blocks etc. and change them as and when needed. Does anyone know whether I can install multiple .mo files? Such as
languages/de_DE/LC_MESSAGES/base.mo
languages/de_DE/LC_MESSAGES/mytheme.mo
languages/de_DE/LC_MESSAGES/myblock.mo
Or is this just a silly idea??
Any helpful suggestions appreciated! :)
Jon
Looks like you are making progress. Sorry I cant help but please let me know how you get on, I really need this!
Any development for future updates or integration of a multilingual/bilingual website structure?
Thanks.
Thanks.
here's how i'd deal with the architecture:
http://www.concrete5.org/help/faq/how_do_i_build_a_multi-lingual_si...
you may see an add-on from us at some point this year to make managing that approach simpler.