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structuring a site for internationalization (MLP)
I’m starting work on a small site for a jewelry designer. In the first stage, the site will be in english only, but in a few months, it will be translated to english and spanish. I am planning to do this with MLP.
I have read a bit about MLP, but haven’t managed to get though the 96 page thread ;)
I was wondering if anyone cared to shared any tips and tricks of things to keep in mind while structuring the site, so I don’t have to redo the whole thing to integrate with MLP…
any help will be appreciated :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~| monolinea.com | pixilate.com | istockphoto.com/kemie |~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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#2 2008-09-29 15:37:49
- els
- Moderator
- From: The Netherlands
- Registered: 2004-06-06
- Posts: 7,458
Re: structuring a site for internationalization (MLP)
I think it’s important to install MLP right from the start, even if you are not going to use it for a while. I remember that somewhere in that long, long plugin thread (of course I can’t find it now…) Steve said to always install MLP before any other plugin you want to use. One of the reasons (that I experienced myself, don’t know if there are more) is that ‘MLP compliant’ plugins (like zem_contact_lang) won’t be recognized and included in the MLP interface if they were installed before MLP.
Also you can start right away with creating ‘snippets’ (pieces of text that are not in articles but will eventually need to be translated). An example would be something like ‘Site design by’ in your footer. If you enter it as a snippet right away, the moment you are going to translate the site you’ll have a ready list of snippets that need to be translated, instead of having to search all your pages and forms for them.
Otherwise I don’t think the site’s structure matters very much. But probably Julián will have some more tips for you :)
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#3 2008-09-29 16:21:22
- net-carver
- Archived Plugin Author
- Registered: 2006-03-08
- Posts: 1,648
Re: structuring a site for internationalization (MLP)
kemie
happy to hear you’re going to use the MLP Pack. I’d suggest you give it a spin on a test site to get used to it — it’s not a simple plugin but a mod for normal txp. Please be aware this could cause some issues with upgrades to new versions of txp when they come out.
I’d also go with an early install of the pack as that does help ensure that it gets to grab the incoming URLs before any other plugin gets a chance to change it. Otherwise it’s quite easy to use it for a single language too and others later.
One difference you will notice if you do run the pack — even on a single-language site — is that the URLs will be re-written with /en (or whatever) language code in them. This also has implications for later adoption of the pack into sites as the crawled urls will change.
Like Els said, I’m sure Julián will have a raft of additional tips.
— Steve
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Re: structuring a site for internationalization (MLP)
thanks for the tips so far, I’ll get installing right away!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~| monolinea.com | pixilate.com | istockphoto.com/kemie |~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Re: structuring a site for internationalization (MLP)
Hi kemie!
Not too much to add, MLP is a wonderful tool, well thought, well crafted, seamlessly integrated on Textpattern.
As said by Els and Steve, remember to install it first, and remember to run the wizard ;)
I’ve installed the MLP some days ago, and then started to add plugins. Then, I noticed I didn’t run the wizard, so my OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) made me uninstall every plugin, run the wizard, and install them all again.
I was about to go a step further (because of the OCD), and re-install the whole Textpattern and MLP from scratch… but I think there is no need to go that far… right Steve? :D
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