Languages and Translation

Page language and direction#

The theme sets the page language from the site's locale (Site admin › Settings). For right-to-left languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Urdu, it also sets the page direction: headers, menus, cards, sidebars and arrows all mirror, because the theme's styles use logical directions (start and end) throughout.

Translating the theme#

Omeka translates its own interface. The theme's own words ("Menu", "Search the collection", "Cite this", the names and help texts of its settings…) are translated by files in the theme's language/ folder.

1. Copy language/template.pot to a file named after the locale, such as language/fr.po or language/pt_BR.po. The name must match the site's locale code.
2. Translate it with a translation editor such as Poedit, or any text editor.
3. Save it as a compiled .mo file next to it (language/fr.mo). Poedit does this automatically; on the command line, run msgfmt -o language/fr.mo language/fr.po.

The translation is used on every site whose locale matches, and on the theme settings page for administrators who use that language.

Keep your .po and .mo files when you upgrade the theme. If you would like to share a translation with other users of the theme, send it to RefBytes.

Multilingual sites#

Omeka sites have one locale each. A common way to offer a collection in several languages is one site per language, each with its own locale, menu and pages, sharing the same items. The theme gives each site the right language and direction automatically.