Enfold theme and WPML

Introduction

Enfold theme allows you to build a website in a few minutes. It includes many features, and can be optimized based on your needs. It also comes with predefined content for easy setup.

Enfold’s integration with WPML allows you to translate your pages, posts, menus, custom post types, and all the other theme elements. You can read more about it, download, and look at the multilingual test site here: https://wpml.org/theme/enfold/

In this documentation, we provide detailed instructions on how to translate the different elements of Enfold’s theme using WPML.

What you will need

• The Enfold Theme, which is also available on Theme Forest (version 3.3 or above).
• A recent version of WPML (version 3.3.6 or above), including the String Translation, Translation Management, and Media translation add-ons.

Essential resources

• Enfold documentation has a rich collection of tutorials and step-by-step videos that will guide you in your initial setup.
• The WPML Getting Started Guide contains clear explanations of many of the steps involved in turning an Enfold site multilingual with WPML. You will want to refer later to some of its subtopics, such as Theme and Plugin Localization, Menu Synchronization, and String Translation. We recommend you keep this guide open while following this tutorial.

Content

• Getting started | installing and activating Enfold theme, importing content, and setting up WPML plugin
• Translating pages created with the page builder | includes translating the home page
• Translating pages, posts, custom post types and custom taxonomies | portfolio, portfolio categories
• Translating menus | synchronize menus across languages and translate them
• Translating theme text | scan your theme for strings and get everything translated
• Translating theme options | using the theme option language switcher
• Getting help | our support team will be more than happy to assist you

Getting started

These are the main steps you need to follow to get started:

• Install the Enfold theme and activate it.
• Install and activate the core WPML plugins (WPML Multilingual CMS, WPML String Translation, WPML Translation Management, WPML Media Translation), and then other WPML plugins that may depend on them.
• Set up WPML,  See our WPML Getting Started Guide for a complete reference, but the initial simple three-step setup is self-explanatory, asking you to choose your default language, a set of active languages, and a language selector. (For starters, choose the footer language selector; you can change this later.)

For this tutorial, we will use some of the sample content available in Enfold theme. You can import this content by going to Enfold, clicking on the Demo Import tab on the left, then clicking on the Click to import button as illustrated below.

Translating theme elements

• Translating pages created with the page builder

When you navigate to “Pages” in the WordPress dashboard you will see columns for each active language, with the   icon (add a translation) or the  icon (edit translation) next to each page. Go ahead and edit or add the translated page for “Homepage.”

The homepage downloaded by the demo content is built using the Advanced layout editor. If you are using Enfold’s Advanced layout editor to create your own homepage or any other page, follow the steps below for translation:

Note that the Advanced layout editor is a page layout builder that allows you to design and modify the layout as well as add functionality inside a single page and view from within the admin of that page.

1. Go to Pages.
2. Find your home page.
3. Click on Edit as shown in the illustration below.

4. You will see the language meta box on the right side. Check the Duplicate option, and then click on the Duplicate button, as shown in the illustration below.

5. Click on the  icon to go to the secondary language home page as shown in the illustration below.

6. Click on the Translate independently button to disconnect the page’s translations.
7. Edit the text for translation.

With that, we have created a copy of our homepage in the secondary language and can add the translated content to it.

• Translating pages, posts, custom post types, and custom taxonomies

Translating pages and posts can be done by navigating to Pages or Posts on the WordPress dashboard and clicking on the  icon to add the translated content to the secondary language.

As you can see, the custom post that comes with Enfold theme, like “Portfolio,” and the custom taxonomy, like “Portfolio Categories,” are preset to be translated by the language configuration file, which we have created for Enfold theme.

1. Go to “Portfolio items” in your WordPress dashboard and click on the  icon to add the translation. See the illustration below:

2. To translate the custom taxonomies, follow the steps below:

1. Go to WPML >> Taxonomy Translation.
2. Select “Portfolio Categories” from the Select the taxonomy to translate drop-down menu.
3. Click on Translate to add the custom taxonomy translation by filling the required fields and then click OK as illustrated below.

• Translating Menus

WPML can synchronize menus for you. This means that if some entries, for example some pages, posts, or categories, are in the English menu, WPML can generate and keep in sync menus for other languages pointing to the translated versions of these pages, posts, or categories. By following the steps below you will be able to synchronize the menus and translate them.

1. From WordPress Appearance >> Menus, click on Synchronize menus between languages as shown in the illustration below:

2. Now you are directed to a page that shows the menu items available for translation. Scroll to the end of the page and click the Sync button, as shown in the illustration below:

3. Clicking the Sync button will take you to the set of menu items that can be translated; select them all, then apply the changes.

• Translating theme text and other strings on your website

Scanning the theme strings will register them for translation on the string translation screen. Learn more at Theme and Plugin Localization.

This can be done by following the steps below:

1. Go to WPML >> Theme and plugin localization.
2. Click on the Scan the theme for strings This will register the theme texts for translation on the string translation screen, as shown in the illustration below.

3. Now you can navigate to WPML >> String translation, and filter the strings by “translation needed” to see which strings are missing translations or select a specific text domain. You also can search for a specific string by typing it in the “Search for” field and clicking the Search button. Click on translations and add your translated text, as shown in the illustration below.

• Translating theme options

You can simply translate the theme options by following the steps below:

1. Go to Enfold settings on your WordPress dashboard.
2. Click on the options tab on the left.
3. Use the language switcher on the theme options page located on the top left corner to switch between the default language and the secondary language(s).

With that you can edit the translation of the theme options under each language as shown in the illustration below.

• Getting help

If you need help with using WPML with Enfold theme, please go to our technical forum. Before posting about issues, we recommend that you review this quick checklist:

1. Make sure you have the latest versions of the theme and of the WPML plugins, and that they are all activated. These include WPML Multilingual CMS, WPML String Translation, and WPML Translation Management.
2. The problem does not appear if the WPML plugins are deactivated; it appears when only the core WPML plugins are activated. In other words, try to make sure that it is an issue of compatibility of Enfold with WPML, because otherwise Enfold support is likely to be able to help you better.

• Conclusion

Enfold theme has many features; with WPML integration you will be able to easily translate all its different elements. The detailed instructions introduced in this document will allow you to build your localized website smartly using Enfold theme and WPML.