Kestello

Appearance

A site in several languages ​

Kestello can hold your content in more than one language: an English site with a Spanish version, for example. Each page has its own translation, at its own address, and visitors switch between them with a language switcher. This page shows how to add a language, translate pages, categories and menus, and what visitors and search engines see.

This is about your content. To change the language of the admin and of the emails Kestello sends, see Settings. To translate Kestello itself, see Translating Kestello.

Who can do this: adding languages needs the permission Change site settings, which administrators have. Anyone who can edit a page can translate it.

How addresses work ​

The site's main language keeps the addresses it has. Every other language lives under its code: Spanish under /es, German under /de. Each translation has an address of its own, so /about in Spanish can be /es/sobre-nosotros.

English, the main language

The site’s own addresses, with nothing in front.

  • /about
  • /projects/house
  • /blog
  • /search
  • /feed

Spanish, another language

The same pages under /es, with Spanish words where you give them.

  • /es/sobre-nosotros
  • /es/proyectos/casa
  • /es/noticias
  • /es/search
  • /es/feed
The same site in its main language and in Spanish

The address alone decides the language. Kestello does not guess from the visitor's browser and does not remember a choice: a link to /es/noticias always opens the Spanish page. This keeps one address per page and language, which is what search engines need.

Add a language ​

  1. Open Site → Settings and stay on General.
  2. Under Other languages, pick the language in Choose a language. If it isn't in the list, pick Another language… and type its code, such as gd for Scottish Gaelic.
  3. Click Add. The language appears in the list with its address, such as /es.
  4. Click Save general.

The language of the site you set in Language is the main one. A site can have up to 20 other languages.

A code is refused when something already lives at that address, such as a page called es. The message names it: change its address first, then add the language.

Remove a language ​

Click the × next to the language, then Save general. Before you save, Kestello says how many entries are written in it. They are not deleted: visitors no longer see them, and adding the language again brings them back.

Name the site in each language ​

Under Name and tagline in other languages on the same tab, give each language its own Site name and Tagline. Pages, titles, search engine data, feeds and emails in that language use them. Leave a field empty and that language uses the main one, shown greyed in the field.

Give addresses their own words ​

Content types and categories have a word in their address: /projects, /blog, /category. Under Addresses in other languages you can give each one a word in each language. Write proyectos for Projects and Spanish projects live at /es/proyectos/casa instead of /es/projects/casa.

Old links keep working: /es/projects/casa takes visitors to /es/proyectos/casa.

A word is refused when the language already uses it, for the site itself, for another content type, or for a page in that language. The message says which.

Translate a page ​

Write the page in the main language first, then translate it:

  1. Translate into SpanishIn the Translations card of the page you wrote first.
  2. A draft opensA copy of the page in Spanish, with the same fields, categories and parent.
  3. Write it in SpanishThe title, the address and the text. Shared fields stay as they are.
  4. PublishVisitors find it at /es/… and the language switcher links the two.
From a page in English to its Spanish translation
  1. Open the page in the editor.
  2. In the Translations card on the right, click Translate into Spanish.
  3. A draft opens in Spanish, with the same fields filled in. Translate the title and the text, and change the address under the title (the slug) to Spanish words.
  4. Publish it.

The Translations card now links the two. Each language shows its status: a green badge is published.

You can also write a page in another language from the start: when you create it, choose its Language in the Details card. A page's language can't be changed after it is saved.

Find pages in a language ​

The list of pages and posts has a Language filter: the main language, each other language, or All languages. The Translations column shows which languages a page is in, and a button to translate it into the others.

Fields shared by every language ​

Some fields are the same in every language: a project's year, its photos, an event's date. When you save one of these in any language, its translations get the new value too. In the editor, these fields say so under them once the page has a translation.

Written in each language

  • Title, address and excerpt
  • Text and rich text
  • Blocks
  • Links to other pages and categories
  • Groups and repeaters

The same in every language

  • Numbers
  • Dates
  • Yes or no
  • Colours
  • Choices from a list
  • Images and files
  • People
Which fields each language writes, and which they share, unless a content type says otherwise

Whoever sets up a content type can change this per field: in the content type's editor, In other languages chooses Written in each language or The same in every language.

TIP

If someone else has the Spanish page open while you change a shared field in English, saving theirs says that someone else saved it. Reload it to see the new value before saving.

A field that links to another page, such as a project's related projects, can be filled in either language. On a Spanish page, each link opens the Spanish translation when it is published, and the original when there is none yet.

Categories and tags ​

Categories and tags are translated the same way. On Content → Categories (or Content → Tags), switch the Language at the top, and use the Translations column to translate one. Kestello adds the translation with the same name; rename it and give it its own address.

When you translate a page, its categories become their translations where they have one.

Each language can have its own menu in each place of your theme. On Appearance → Menus, in the Theme locations card, switch the language and choose a menu for each place. Leave it at Same as English and that language uses the main language's menu.

Links to pages and categories in a menu follow the visitor's language: on a Spanish page, a link to About opens the Spanish Sobre nosotros.

What visitors see ​

When a visitor opens a Spanish address, Kestello decides what to show:

Is the page published in Spanish?

What /es/about shows, depending on the translations you have

Everything around the page is in Spanish too: its menus, the words the theme shows by itself (such as "Read more"), dates and numbers. The site's search at /es/search finds Spanish pages, and /es/feed lists Spanish posts.

Themes can show a language switcher. The Base theme lists the languages at the bottom of every page, each linking to the same page in that language.

Pages not translated yet ​

A page that has no Spanish translation still opens at its Spanish address, /es/about. It is shown in English, inside the Spanish menus, with a note at the top: "This page is not available in Spanish yet. Here it is in English." Search engines are asked not to list it, so they only find real translations.

What search engines see ​

Each translation tells search engines where the others are (the hreflang links), and the sitemap lists every language with its translations. You don't need to set anything for this. Only published translations are listed, never a page shown in the wrong language.

If something goes wrong ​

"/es already belongs to …" when adding a language. A page, a content type or a plugin already uses that address. Change the page's address, or ask the developer of the plugin, then add the language again.

"This page is already in that language" or "already has that translation". Each page can have one translation per language. Open the existing one from the Translations card.

A Spanish page shows in English. Its translation isn't published yet, or is scheduled for later. Open it from the Translations card and check its status.

A word in Addresses in other languages is refused. The word is already used in that language, by the site itself (such as search or feed), by another content type, or by a page. Pick another word.

The menu is in English on Spanish pages. That place has no Spanish menu yet, so it uses the main one. Choose one on Appearance → Menus, in Theme locations, with the language set to Spanish.

Kestello documentation.