=== xLanguage === Contributors: sam0737 Donate link: http://hellosam.net/contribute Tags: language, babel, multilanguage, multilingual, l10n, i18n Requires at least: 2.3.2 Tested up to: 2.3.2 Stable tag: trunk Allows you to blog in multi-language, and users to select which to read. Works on every blog UI elements, not just the post. == Description == If your want to present your blog in different languages (totally with title, rss, categories working, not just the post) and allows visitors to pick the language they want, this plugin is for you. xLanguage is a full featured plugin allows you to blog in different language, and allows user to select which version to read. It works for blog post, page, tags, categories. The user language preferences will also select the right theme and plugins MO files. Customization is the No. 1 design goal, after all that's probably the reason why you want to setup a multilingual blog. The language configuration combination is highly customizable to facilitate multiple fallbacks. Every UI is extracted out, which could be optionally overridden by theme design without touching the plugin file at all. This plugin works by inserting W3C standardized tag in the post content, and a XML parser will be involved to extract them when served, extracting all elements with the matching lang=".." tag. The permalinks and RSS feeds are also presented correctly. For single line data such as post title, a special but simple syntax is introduced. The language preference is detected from browser's preferences, as well as from Cookie if user visited before. Widget and template functions are also provided to allow user to switch the language easily. The presentation of the template functions can also be customized in your theme folder without touching the code in the plugins. See `Other Notes` for the comparisons against similar plugins. = Usage Guide = For complete usage guide, please refer to my [blog page](http://hellosam.net/project/xlanguage). Also see my blog for live demostration. There are some [known problems and limitations](http://hellosam.net/project/xlanguage), please make sure you are aware of those. == Comparisons == = Compare to Language Switcher v1.11 (Jan 2008) = This is actually the plugin that inspired me to build the xLanguage. The Language Switcher and the xLanguage is working in a very similar way -- Both enable multilingual post by tagging the it. The Language Switcher uses square bracket instead of HTML tag, but have no assisting tools when composing the post. The language code is limited to the length of 2, and offer no fallbacking and overlapping possibility. Same as xLanguage, it allows user to enable multilingual functionality on single line content like tag, title and such. = Compare to jLanguage v1.4 (Jan 2008) = Almost the same as Language Switcher, both functionality and working principle. However, jLanguage v1.4 does not have widget for user to select their favorite language. In addition, It currently offer almost no customization, plus it does not work for single line content. The language selection could not affect the MO file selection. It enables the language tagging by using square brakets instead of standard tag, similar to that of Language Switcher. = Compare to Multilingual post v0.2 (Jan 2008) = Please be aware that Multilingual post v0.2 does not belong to this category at all. It does not enable poster to publish mixed language in a post. The user also cannot selectively view the post in a particular language. It only does insert the lang=".." tag at the HEAD such that browser can render the page better. xLanguage also does this. = Compare to Gengo v0.91-alpha-4 (Jan 2008) = Gengo v0.9.1-alpha-4 does not support the latest version (v2.3) of WordPress yet. On the other hand, xLanguage is not tested with anything eariler than v2.3. In Gengo, each translations is a standalone post, linked to the original post. It enables you to create maps between different content, similar to that of Gengo, you have to write an independent post for each languages. In xLanguage, everything is in the same post. The xLanguage approaches make almost no structural changes to the WordPress itself, and hence should be easier maintain. No extra magic in xLanguage is needed to keep the commenting, searching, popularity counter works. = Compare to Bunny's Language Linker v0.2 (Jan 2008) = Bunny's Language Linker's way to enable multilanguage blog is minimal and simple, yet the integration is very loose. It works like Gengo, the pros and cons compare to xLanguage is very similar. = Compare to Basic Bilingual v0.31 (Jan 2008) = Basic Bilingual v0.31 allows you to insert a summaries in a different language. It is yet another very simple plugin. == Installation == This plugin can be installed like all the other plugin. It requires no extra configuration except being activated. 1. Extract the downloaded zip file to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory. You might also want to use [OneClick Installer](http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/oneclick/) to automate this step. 1. In the Admin control panel, goes to the `Plugins`page and activate the `xLanguage` plugin. 1. Configure the plugin under the `Options` page. 1. Start blogging with the multi-langual functionalities! There are some [known problems and limitations](http://hellosam.net/project/xlanguage), please make sure you are aware of those. [Full usage guide](http://hellosam.net/project/xlanguage) is kept at the plugin homepage. == Screenshots == 1. Basic language configuration 2. Advanced language configuration 2. Options 3. Template function and widget at work! == Frequently Asked Questions == [Full usage guide](http://hellosam.net/project/xlanguage) is kept updated at the plugin homepage. = How to use? = First, you have to configure which language are available to the users, and defining the properties of the language. A complex arrangement is allowed which is very useful if one of the language is "overlapped" with another. Then, you can start blogging with the xLanguage toolbar provided which can help you to specify which paragraphs in the post belong to which language. In addition, you may want customized the name of the categories and tags to specified languages. Also, put the xLanguage widget up so the users are allowed to switch language as needed. When a user finally comes to your blog, the plugin will determine the most favorable language from his browser preferences. The content shown will have the correct part extracted. His choice of language will also be saved to cookie. Permalinks will also be modified to include the language information. There are some [known problems and limitations](http://hellosam.net/project/xlanguage), please make sure you are aware of those. = How does this work? = The HTML are tagged with W3C compliants tag or plain text square bracket format, or split with "|" for the single line content like post title and categories name. This plugins hooked into number of filters, and the correct part of the content will be extracted on the fly when served.