How handle multiple languages site?

[wavesurfer]

Hi all,

I am about to start a new project where the client wants a site to be in 6 languages to start with and soon 7 more, total 13 languages!! What is the best strategy for me as a developer? Somehow it would be great to have all functionality at only one place and keep ALL text, including links, menues, texts etc etc separate. Is that possible or do we need to go for a (expensive) Content Management System?

In addition to this delicate problem, the site should be easy to update for my clients. Not only productdetails that would be easy to store in a db, but also more "static" content like company info etc.

I am thinking of suggesting a solution whith a dynamic site where product details, news, resellers info and things like that are put into a db with a custom made administration site, and the more static content can be administrated with contribution. Is this a good strategy and if it is how do I handle the different languages?

Thanks a lot in advance!!

[Newsgroup_User]

> Is that possible or do we need to go for a (expensive)
> Content Management System?

You absolutely need/should have a CMS to run this. Whether or not it's
expensive is irrelevant.

The client will also need a hard working content manager (person) to
maintain all of these pages in the multiple languages to ensure everything
is always up to date and in synch.

> In addition to this delicate problem, the site should be easy to update
> for my
> clients. Not only productdetails that would be easy to store in a db, but
> also
> more "static" content like company info etc.

CMS.

> I am thinking of suggesting a solution whith a dynamic site where product
> details, news, resellers info and things like that are put into a db with
> a
> custom made administration site, and the more static content can be
> administrated with contribution. Is this a good strategy and if it is how
> do I
> handle the different languages?

You handle the different languages via the DB. Each bit of content will be
stored separately for each language supported. You could structure your DB
any number of ways to handle it.

-Darrel

[wavesurfer]

Thanks Darrel,

So talking about cms systems, would you suggest any cms in particular or should I build one in DW from scratch?

[Newsgroup_User]

> So talking about cms systems, would you suggest any cms in particular or
> should I build one in DW from scratch?

It really, really, really depends on a whole lot of things. ;o)

If time's not an issue, I usually recommend that people look into one of the
open source ones out there. Drupal, Typo3, PHP/DotNet Nuke, Joomla, etc. set
it up and see if it works. If it does, great. If not, now you have an idea
of what, specifically, does and does not work.

There are hundrends of CMS systems and dozens that are actually half decent.
It's really just a process of looking at them all and seeing if they meet
the specific needs of your site.

-Darrel