Your website in several languages

If your website exists in several languages, every page holds all of them: nothing to duplicate, no copies to keep in sync. And each language lives its own life: French can be live while English is still waiting for a final read. If your website has a single language, this page does not concern you.

Note

Your website’s languages were chosen when it was built. To add one, talk to the person who manages your website.

The language bar

At the top of every page, the “Languages” row shows one pill per language. Its color tells you where each one stands:

• Green: this language is live and up to date.
• Orange: this language is live, but the main language has been edited and published since. It needs an update.
• Gray: this language is not live yet, or has changes waiting to be published.

One language at a time, or both side by side

On a computer, two buttons to the right of the language bar control the layout:

• “Side by side” (the default): every translated field appears twice, the main language on the left, the other on the right, with the language name above. It is the ideal layout for translating: the original stays in sight.
• “Tabs”: one language at a time. Click a language name in the bar to switch.

Your choice is remembered on this device. On a phone, the space always shows one language at a time: tap a language name to switch. And whichever language is on screen, everything saves automatically, as always.

Fields shared across languages

Some fields carry the note “Shared across languages”: a photo, a price or a phone number needs no translation. You fill them in once and the value applies everywhere.

Caution

After you change a shared field, the language pills turn gray again: the change is waiting to be published in each language. One click on “Publish” puts everything back online at once.

Publishing: one button for every language

The “Publish” button puts every language whose content changed online at once, and handles the rest on its own:

• An incomplete language (a required field still empty) stays as a draft without blocking the others: the message tells you what went out and what is waiting.
• A language that is already up to date is not republished: its “needs update” reminder, if any, is preserved.

So you can publish French today and finish English tomorrow: until the translation is complete, your English-speaking visitors keep seeing the previous version (or nothing at all if that language was never published).

If no language can be published, a window titled “Some information is missing to publish” lists the fields to complete, language by language: no half-empty page.

What “needs update” means

You publish a new version of the main language? The other languages already online turn orange: their translation predates your latest changes. Nothing breaks in the meantime, your website keeps showing their last published version. Orange is just a reminder. To clear it:

1. Open the page and display the language to update. The “Side by side” layout helps: the new version of the original sits right next to it.

2. Adjust the translation to reflect the changes.

3. Publish that language. Its pill turns green again.

Find everything left to translate

In the content list, each item shows one mark per language: a green check (live and up to date), a gray dot (draft), an orange circular arrow (needs an update). On a computer, hover over a mark to read the status in full.

To take stock before going live, tick “To translate” above the list: only the items where a language is waiting remain. When the filtered list is empty, your whole website speaks all its languages.