Multilingual website development technology in PHP

With the development of globalization, more and more websites need to support multiple languages. Especially corporate websites, their cross-border business also requires multi-language support. As a popular website development language, PHP's technology for implementing multilingual websites is also very mature. This article will explore multilingual website development techniques in PHP.

1. Basic concepts of multilingual website development

A multilingual website means that the same website can be displayed in multiple languages, so that users of different languages ​​can easily access and use the same website. Different from single-language websites, multi-language websites need to meet the following requirements:

1. Users can freely choose the language they need.
2. Change the text, images, audio and other multimedia content displayed on the website by selecting the language.
3. The layout and design of the website should not change when switching between different languages.
4. Websites in different language versions should share databases, codes, pictures and other resources to simplify maintenance and updates.

2. Common practices in multilingual website development

1. Switching language based on URL

This is the most common multilingual website development technology , displaying corresponding pages based on the language selected by the user. Its URL format is usually: www.example.com/en/index.php or www.example.com/zh/index.php. Among them, /en/ and /zh/ represent the English and Chinese versions of the website homepage.

2. Switching language based on Cookie or Session

Cookie and Session are both ways to save data on the client and server side, and are usually used to save user information and session state. In multilingual website development, the language information selected by the user can be stored in Cookie or Session. When the user jumps to the page, obtain the required language information from the Cookie or Session to display the corresponding version of the website page.

3. Automatically switch languages ​​based on browser language

This is an adaptive language that is used by users and does not require users to manually select a language. Developers can determine the locale used by the user by obtaining the browser information used by the user, and then display the corresponding language version.

3. Specific implementation of multi-language website development

To implement multi-language websites in PHP, developers usually use the following methods:

1. Use PHP external language files

PHP supports external text files and can read the corresponding text content through language tags. Developers can store text translations for each language version in external language files, such as en.php, zh.php. Then use language tags in the PHP code to read the corresponding text, such as:

<?php
$lang = 'en'; // 定义当前使用的语言
include $lang . '.php'; // 引用外部语言文件
echo $lang['welcome']; // 输出语言标记为 'welcome' 的文本
?>

2. Use PHP’s own gettext extension

gettext is one of the core extensions of PHP , used to internationalize and localize text information, and is widely used in multi-language website development. Developers can store the text of all language versions in a PO file, and then obtain the corresponding text content through the gettext() function. For example:

<?php
$language = 'en_US'; // 当前语言环境
putenv("LC_ALL=$language"); // 设置环境变量
setlocale(LC_ALL, $language); // 设置 locale
bindtextdomain('messages', './locale'); // 设置翻译文件目录
textdomain('messages'); // 设置翻译文件的 text domain
echo gettext('Welcome'); // 输出翻译后的文本
?>

4. Precautions for developing multi-language websites

1. Use independent language files or databases to prevent cross-language attacks.
2. All language versions of web pages should maintain consistent layout and use the same code.
3. Try not to use graphical text, because the character length and font size of different languages ​​will change, which may affect the layout of the web page.
4. Avoid using tools such as Google Translate for automatic translation. Unless you need to go online immediately, it is recommended to hire a professional translator for translation.

In short, implementing a multilingual website in PHP is not complicated. Developers only need to understand the basic concepts and common practices, and can easily implement it using the multilingual development technology provided by PHP. At the same time, attention should be paid to the specific implementation of multi-language website development to ensure consistency and stability between each language version.

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