How to make your storefront multilingual

purpose offering your web to print storefront in multiple languages helps you connect with a global customer base and provides a personalized shopping experience onprintshop makes it easy to set up and manage a multilingual website with built in tools and flexible language settings this guide outlines the steps and best practices to enable and manage multiple languages on your onprintshop storefront step by step instructions this section outlines the steps to enable and manage multiple languages across your onprintshop storefront, including static content, product details, design templates, cms pages, and seo data watch the video tutorial for a quick overview of the configuration process follow the step wise guide below for the complete configuration enable multiple languages to add a new language (e g , spanish, french, arabic), submit a request to the technical team the team will enable the language in the back end assign the correct iso language code apply the appropriate flag icon set the default language if needed note admin users cannot add or activate new languages independently once a language is added by the team, you can manage translations for that language using the admin panel manage language wise storefront content once the languages are added to the admin panel by the technical team, they will be listed in the store configuration > site settings > languages tab when a new language is activated in the system the auto translate feature can translate existing website content across supported pages depending on the volume of content on your site, this process may take some time when new pages or content are added later after adding new content (e g , products, cms pages, templates), go to the respective section in the admin panel, select the desired language from the floating language menu, and either manually enter translations or use the auto translate feature ✅ remember to click save after making any changes to ensure the updates reflect on the storefront note the auto translate feature is available only on supported screens (admin panel and designer studio) when s3 integration is enabled manage language wise images just like textual content, images should also be localized to enhance the multilingual browsing experience onprintshop allows you to associate images with specific languages during upload or while editing below are the key areas where you can upload language specific images product small and large image in the description tab ( products > select product > description tab ) product gallery images ( products > select product > gallery tab > select language ) banner images ( content management > banners > add/edit banner > select language ) translate image alt text for multilingual websites, it's important to translate image alt text docid 99vvsw1tfakmemr67mjix along with other metadata this helps search engines index your images correctly and improve visibility in image based search results for different languages localized alt text not only supports seo but also enhances accessibility and user experience for diverse audiences steps to translate image alt text in the admin panel, navigate to the seo > image alt text you can localize the image alt text for the product and category images select the language from the floating language drop down on the right enter the translated alt text for each image click save to apply the changes customers' access to the multilingual storefront once multiple languages are enabled, customers will see a flag icon on the storefront, mostly in the top header section or as per your storefront theme, allowing them to select their preferred language the website content will automatically update based on their selection setting preferred language for customers customers can personalize their browsing experience by selecting a preferred language from the my account > profile on the storefront the admin can also set the default preferred language for the customer from the customer > website customers > add/edit > customer settings section enable auto translation in studio to enable automatic translation of template content in the designer studio go to studio settings and enable both “enable text translation” and “enable auto translation for browse design ” enable text translation let customers translate individual text elements within a design using the auto translate icon in the action pop up enable auto translation for browse design automatically translates the entire content of the selected design template in the designer studio based on the language chosen by the customer on the storefront for example, when a customer selects a language from the storefront and then chooses a product and a design template, the designer studio will open with the template content automatically translated into the selected language, ensuring a seamless and localized design experience without requiring manual input testing and validation language accuracy ensure that product titles, descriptions, cms content, and system labels display correctly for each activated language confirm that no placeholder text or untranslated keys (e g , {label name}) are visible on the frontend review all email templates for accurate translations send test emails to verify formatting and language content ensure that error messages, form labels, button texts, and instructions are consistent and culturally appropriate in each language layout and design check alignment and layout in each language, especially for rtl languages ensure all elements (e g , menus, buttons, input fields) are correctly oriented and readable validate that dynamic areas such as product cards, dropdowns, popups, and checkout pages adjust correctly across languages and device sizes review banner placement and embedded text for language appropriateness and font rendering functionality testing switch between languages and verify that the selected language persists as the user navigates through different sections like product pages, cart, and checkout test the complete order flow in each language—including product personalization, file upload (if applicable), checkout, and order confirmation—to confirm no language break occurs verify that customers receive system generated emails in the selected language post registration, order placement, or password recovery ensure that seo friendly urls and canonical links work as expected across different language views