WPLang – A Focused Multilingual Layer for WordPress

THE IDEA

WPLang – A Focused Multilingual Layer for WordPress

Type: Software Status: Beta Tech Stack: PHP (7.4/8.3), WordPress plugin API (hooks, REST, Gutenberg/Site Editor), MySQL/MariaDB via wpdb (7 custom tables), vanilla JavaScript, Elementor API (optional), Yoast SEO integration (optional), GitHub Actions (CI incl. WordPress/MariaDB integration tests) Problem Statement The established multilingual solutions for WordPress require a paid licence for many of their features (Polylang Pro, WPML), and block themes with full site editing bring additional objects into play that need translating. Anyone wanting to switch also puts the live website at risk: the translation assignments, language URLs and redirects of an existing installation cannot be guessed safely, and a half-finished conversion serves visitors inconsistent addresses. Description WPLang is a standalone WordPress plugin that manages posts, pages, custom post types, taxonomies, media, menus as well as block navigations and full-site-editing templates as WordPress objects linked per language, and derives clean, language-prefixed URLs from them with a freely chosen primary language. Routes and redirects can be rebuilt in resumable batches and are only published atomically once the rebuild is complete, so visitors never see a half-finished state. On top of this come a string catalogue for translatable texts from themes and plugins, language filters in the post lists, hreflang including x-default, a Yoast integration for language-correct canonical, OpenGraph and breadcrumb URLs, localised attachment pages, a language switcher in several forms and an Elementor integration. At its core is a three-stage migration assistant secured on a “fail-closed” basis, which checks Polylang installations through static dependency analysis and fingerprint checks and takes over the import atomically. Every write operation is revision-bound and can be rolled back. A dependency-free regression suite with around 160 cases, tests against a real WordPress 6.5/MariaDB installation and CI for PHP 7.4/8.3 accompany development; the plugin is being field-tested on a website of its own, but according to its README it still regards itself as a development build. Use Case A WordPress plugin that makes a website multilingual without an expensive extra licence — with its own addresses per language, translated menus, templates and texts, and a low-risk move away from the previous multilingual solution. Link: https://github.com/rawk7000/WPLang (private repo)