Forem Creators and Builders 🌱

Discussion on: How to properly install a forum in two different languages?

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Ella (she/her/elle)

Hey @machinsoft it sounds like you're asking if you can use subdomains to install 2 Forems on the same domain. Is this correct?

If so, I believe the answer to your question might be found in @coffeecraftcode's response to this post. So, although it is possible we don't advise it, and couldn't provide support for you if you choose to attempt it.

@ben adds that:

The separate subdomain really should be a separate Forem altogether in general. Subdomains really aren't supposed to be used to differentiate areas within a single application

Of course, maybe you're asking if you can install 2 Forems on the same domain. This isn't possible.

Hope this helps!

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Ben Halpern

Yeah, with the subdomain model, I think it would end up being something like en.website.com, fr.website.com if you felt like it. There will eventually be more functionality to let users pick their own language preferences within a single Forem if that ultimately is what your needs would be. For example, DEV has plenty of posts in different languages. The default language for the site is english, but folks will eventually have more freedom to customize their experiences.

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Ella (she/her/elle)

@ben would you mind me asking for a bit more clarity here for my own understanding?

In the case of having a language subdomain, would we expect there to be 2 separate Forems (as in the question above) or just separate paths with language files calling up the same data translated to either language?

I would guess that users would still want both language user groups to have access to the same content and member lists, just with a different language interface, so in that case would they be installing separate Forems that share a database or would they be installing separate language overlays?

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Ben Halpern

With the today version of different subdomains, it would be entirely different Forems.

The version of a single Forem making itself available in different languages also sort of works along the same lines. Right now any page on any Forem is available by prepending the path with locale/:locale. This is early stage, but ...

forem.dev/locale/fr/machinsoft/how...

... links to this post but you can see french buttons.

Getting this right ultimately is about setting proper user expectations around what shows up in my home feed, etc. if I am on the french "version" of a multilingual site. It's cleaner when you go with entirely different sites on a language-by-language basis. Ultimately all the paths should work. None of them are entirely mature right now.