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What is the best way create a plugin that is translation ready?
It doesn't have to be translated from the beginning but it has to be easily translatable so fellow developers from different cultures can participate to the localization process of the plugin.
Don't use echo or print() to produce text output, instead use the WordPress functions __() and _e():
/** Not localization friendly */
echo "Welcome to my plugin";
// OR
print("Welcome to my plugin");
/** Localization friendly */
_e('Welcome to my plugin', 'my-plugin');
// OR
$my_text = __('Welcome to my plugin', 'my-plugin');
echo $my_text;
_e() and __() will provide the translation — in the current language — of the text provided as the first parameter. _e() will output the text whereas __() will return it.
The second parameter is the text domain, you will be using it to tell WordPress that the text provided as the first parameter belongs to this plugin, you can use any name you want but I prefer to use the same name as I used for the plugin file of directory, I find it more intuitive.
With __() and sprintf():
/** Get the username */
$username = 'Magictrick';
/** Not localization friendly */
echo "Hello $username";
/** Localization friendly */
printf(__('Hello %s', 'my-plugin'), $username);
// OR
$my_text = sprintf(__('Hello %s', 'my-plugin'), $username);
echo $my_text;
Definitions
Open Poedit and create a new catalog (File › New Catallog...) with these settings:
..., (we will store language file in a plugin subdirectory called languages)__ and _eSave the catalog as /my_wordpress_blog/wp-content/plugins/my-plugin/languages/my-plugin.pot and scan your plugin files for translatable text by pressing the update button. When the update is finished close that catalog, you won't need to update that file unless you add new translatable strings (i.e enclosed in __() or _e()) to your plugin.
Now let's create the first translation (I will use fr_FR):
Using Podeit, create a catalog from a POT file (File › New catalog from POT file...):
Save the catalog as /my_wordpress_blog/wp-content/plugins/my-plugin/languages/my-plugin-fr_FR.po. Translate some or all the of the strings, save the .po file again, upload both the .po and .mo files.
Note that whenever you save a .po file a .mo file is generated with the same name, the filename of the .po file is crucial, it's composed of the concatenation of the plugin text domain (my-plugin) and the language locale (fr_FR), always name your .po files for plugins like this: [textdomain]-[locale].po, here are some examples:
wpcf7-it_IT.powpcf7-pt_BR.powpcf7-ar.po... Yes!Whenever the plugin is updated with new text, update the po file, translate new strings and reupload the .po and .mo files
Somewhere in your plugin, you must tell WordPress to use your .mo file, you can do it by using this code in the beginning of your plugin file:
function my_plugin_init() {
load_plugin_textdomain( 'my-plugin', false, 'my-plugin/languages' );
}
add_action('init', 'my_plugin_init');
Replace my-plugin with your plugin name in the 1st and 3rd parameter of the load_plugin_textdomain function.
Some reasons it may not work:
_e('my text') with _e('my text', 'my-plugin'))Nabil’s answer is fairly complete but there is an easy variation provided:
Your plugin is on the WordPress.org plugin repository
You’re willing to require that your plugin only work with WordPress 4.6 or higher.
The steps are these:
In your plugin’s readme.txt file, add
Requires at least: 4.6. See https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-org/how-your-readme-txt-works/
if it isn’t already, upload your plugin to the WordPress plugin repository. See https://wordpress.org/plugins/developers/add/.
Find your plugin’s slug/text domain. To do that, go to your plugin’s page on the WordPress plugin repository. The URL will be like https://wordpress.org/plugins/your-plugin-slug/. That last part of the URL, “your-plugin-slug”, is your plugin’s slug. That’s what you use for the translation functions’ text domain.
Use WordPress’ translation functions in your plugin (like __e(‘hello’, ‘my-plugin-domain’);). Just make sure to use the correct plugin text domain, acquired in the previous step. See https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/internationalization/how-to-internationalize-your-plugin/ for more info.
If you do the above steps, WordPress will take care of:
(Answer from my blog post here: https://cmljnelson.blog/2019/01/01/the-really-lazy-way-to-translate-a-wordpress-plugin/)
