The journey to making a WordPress website as multi-lingual has not been smooth sailing for me since the original qTranslate plugin stopped updating almost five years ago.
My challenge of yet another website project that necessitates multiple languages has not been answered by TranslatePress, which has, by far, a less challenging interface and lower learning curve compared to the similarly harked WordPress multi-language plugins WPML and Polylang.
My requirements for a good WP translation plugin are simple: 1) it must be free, 2) it doesn’t require me to tinker with my .htaccess for redirections, and 3) it needs to work like qTranslate ?
I tried to get used to the string-by-string translation process that TranslatePress provides; I admit that it’s a powerful and sure way to get every single part of your website translated.
Migrating a website that uses TranslatePress, though, is a horror. I started to get all sorts of redirect errors, which is possibly due to a few settings within TranslatePress. Instead of debugging them, I finally just disabled TranslatePress and the problems disappeared.
I’m sure with a bit more Google-ing and reading, I would be able to solve the issues I’m having. However, juggling multiple projects doesn’t allow me the luxury to do so.
I’m also always on the belief that the less WP plugins used, the better in terms of usability, stability and security.
I’m very close to considering and using the suggestions posted by WordPress.com on how to set up a multilingual site, which is safe but tedious. Or — fingers crossed — get qTranslate XT installed, which is scary but may very well be my saving grace.
Let there be light at the end of my WordPress multilingual website journey! ???
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