Multilanguage is an Omeka plugin that is a limited attempt to make parts of Omeka multilanguage. It integrates the locale switcher from BibLibre for public front-end and admin back-end, and Translations, for management of translations of specific or hard coded theme strings.
Uncompress files and rename plugin folder Multilanguage.
Then install it like any other Omeka plugin and follow the config instructions.
In configuration, you can select the languages into which your site could be translated (see Limitations below).
You can also select the elements (applies to Items and Collections), that are translatable. If something like Dublin Core Identifier is made translatable, you will make me cry.
The plugin should respect browser settings for preferred language. Alternatively, it plays well with the Guest User plugin to allow guest users to select their preferred language. Anyway, the user can always use the flag icons.
From the plugin configuration screen, check the elements that will be available for translation. This will apply to Items and Collections.
Also, select the languages available for translation. The edit screens will add clickables to add a translation for those elements.
Those links just display the not-always-transparent locale code. Basic training will be needed to teach translators which codes correspond to which languages.
In the public front-end, the visitor will see the translated metadata according to the current language. If the metadata is not translated, the original metadata is displayed.
Simple Pages and Exhibits can be assigned a language code from the Multilanguage Content tab. For a multilanguage site, you will have to recreate your pages and exhibits in the new languages.
In the public front-end, the menu will display only links to simple pages that matches the current language of the user. So the admin should includes all in the navigation menu.
For the exhibits, the list of exhibits will be limited to the exhibits that match the current language of the user.
The language of the exhibit pages is forced to their exhibit’s one.
The pages and exhibits with a language that doesn’t match the current language are still accessible, as long as the link is known or is hard coded somewhere.
Often, the theme contains hard-coded strings. To get them translated, you first need to translate them, then to make them available in Omeka.
In Omeka, the translations are managed with .po files in the directory application/languages/
for the core and in the directory languages/ of each enabled plugin. This
plugin works the same.
Simply update the translations files either in the directory languages/ of the
current theme, either in the directory languages/ of the plugin: the main one
template.pot and each translation like fr.po and fr.mo. You can add any
language, but respect the names of the files (see application/languages/) and
copy the two files .po and .mo for each language.
The translations themselves can be created with a tool like poedit, or lokalize, or any other compliant software or online service.
Omeka uses a cache to store translations. To reset it, go the the config page of the plugin and check the box. It must be done each time a language is updated.
When the cache is not cleared, you shoud reset the cache manually. You can
restart the web server or to remove all files starting with omeka_i18n_cache
in the temp directory of the web server, usually /tmp, or /tmp/systemd-private-xxx/tmp.
Or wait some hours for the automatic refresh of the translations.
metadata()The optionno_escapeshould be set totrueanytime.
// Instead of:
metadata($item, array('Dublin Core', 'Description'));
// the theme should use:
html_escape(metadata($item, array('Dublin Core', 'Description'), array('no_escape' => true)));In particular, this is required when the option snippet is used.
// Instead of:
metadata($item, array('Dublin Core', 'Description'), array('snippet' => 150));
// the theme should use:
html_escape(snippet(metadata($item, array('Dublin Core', 'Description'), array('no_escape' => true)), 0, 150));For the function metadata(), the key display_title may not be translated, so
use array('Dublin Core', 'Title').
Some functions should be used in themes in order to use features of Omeka.
locale_record()locale_record_from_id_or_slug()locale_exhibit_builder_display_random_featured_exhibit()locale_exhibit_builder_random_featured_exhibit()locale_convert_url()
See the file helpers/functions.php for more information.
Omeka has its own system for i18n of core admin text. This plugin does not address core text in any way.
Language options are based on the existance of core translation files.
The translations submitted via the admin screens MUST exactly match the original language element content. Any edit to the elements MUST be followed by a new translation for each value. That is necessary to allow for translations of multiple values for each element (e.g., multiple subjects, each one translated).
It might work well to solidify the base language text, then do translations. But all workflows differ.
Of course, the translation itself need not actually be a translation of the text -- it could be completely original text in another language -- but it will always have to match with base-language text.
The Dublin Core Title element is tricky. In the flow of filters down to Multilanguage, it is already translated from '[Untitled]' into a target language.
Interactions with other plugins might produce unexpected results.
Simple Pages and Exhibits can be assigned a language code from the Multilanguage Content tab. For a multilanguage site, you will have to recreate your pages and exhibits in the new languages.
If the plugin is installed, Simple Pages and Exhibits content will disappear without updating the language assignments from the Multilanguage Content tab. Each new simple page or Exhibit requires a language assignment from that page.
Use it at your own risk.
It’s always recommended to backup your files and your databases and to check your archives regularly so you can roll back if needed.
See online issues on the plugin issues page on GitHub.
This plugin is published under GNU/GPL v3.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
The flag icons are released under the MIT license.