Working with Language Versions in XperienCentral

In XperienCentral, you can maintain separate language versions of your channel(s). This topic explains how the parallel language versions of content items behave and other considerations to keep in mind when configuring your channel(s).

In This Topic

Default Language

In XperienCentral, the default language is the language that is selected in the language drop-down in a sidebar header (or in the Language Widget in XperienCentral versions R31 and lower) each time you start a new XperienCentral session. All content items that you create in XperienCentral are created in the default content language if you do not switch languages. The default content language in XperienCentral is also used when a developer creates content using the Java API without explicitly specifying a language.

To set the default content language in XperienCentral versions R31 and higher, see Setting the Default Content Language for XperienCentral.

In XperienCentral versions R30.1 and lower, the default content language is configured using the setting "Default content language" on the General tab in Channel Configuration.

Switching Between Languages

Multiple language versions of content items exist parallel to each other. For pages and page sections, the tree structures are identical. For all content items, the title of the language versions can be different as well as the workflow status. In almost all cases, different language versions of content items have different content than their parallel language versions. To switch between the language versions of your website content, use the language drop-down in a sidebar header or the Language Widget in XperienCentral versions R31 and lower.

Dynamic Content Overviews and Content Overviews

The content items that are available to be shown in Dynamic Content Overviews and Content Overviews depend on the language of the content item on which the overview appears. If a channel has an English and a Dutch language version, then the content items that appear in an overview follow the language version of the content item on which they appear. For example, a Dynamic Content Overview appearing on an English language version of a page shows only content items that have an English language version. No content items that have only a Dutch language version will appear in the overview.

Display on Pages

In general, it is a good idea to create a separate "Display on" page for each language that you support — this also holds true for the "display on" pages for articles, images, multimedia and downloads. Doing so helps to avoid confusion both for the editor as well as the website visitor. Using the same "Display on" page for multiple languages could lead to situations where the content of a content item is in one language and the content of the "Display on" page is in another.  For more information see Channel Configuration > Special Pages.

Fallback Language

For each language that XperienCentral supports, you can enable and configure a fallback language. If there is no current content item version in the requested language, then the version in the fallback language for the desired content item is shown. To enable the fallback language functionality, select "Use another language if language is not available" in Configuration > Channel Configuration > General tab. See Channel Configuration for more information.

For content items other than pages and page sections, the following rules apply:

• In order to determine the language version of an article, image, download or other custom content items, XperienCentral will retrieve the content item in the current language or use the fallback language. If the correct language version of a content item cannot be found, no link to it will appear in content, Dynamic Content Overviews, etc.
• The current page or another configured page will be used to show the content item, otherwise the "Display on" page will be used.
• If the correct page still cannot be determined, use the "Default Content Repository page" in the current language or use the fallback language version if applicable.
• If the correct page still cannot be determined, use the home page in the current language or use the fallback language version if applicable
• If the correct page still cannot be determined, show the title of the content item, however it will not be clickable.

For complete information on configuring a fallback language for a language, see Language Labels and the General tab of Channel Configuration.

SEO

Search Engine Optimization works for multiple language versions of website content in exactly the same way that it does for a website in a single language. See Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for complete information.