How to Internationalize the Docusaurus Navbar and Footer (i18n)

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This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to internationalize (i18n) the main UI components of a Docusaurus site: the navbar and footer.

Sources

1. Objective

The Docusaurus i18n feature is a mechanism for making site text multilingual. This guide explains the process of adding new items to the navbar and footer and translating them from Japanese (the default language) to English.

Centralized Source Text All source text for translation is managed within the docusaurus.config.ts file. This allows you to have a single place to view the site's structure and wording.
Automatic Generation of Translation Files The Docusaurus CLI command is used to automatically extract the text that needs translation, generating language-specific translation files (in JSON format).
Simple Translation Process Translation is completed simply by editing the message field in the generated JSON files.

2. Internationalization Workflow

As an example, we will walk through the steps of adding a new link called "ポートフォリオ" (Portfolio) to the navbar and footer and translating it into English.

Step 1: Edit the Source Text (Japanese)

Add the new item to the site's master configuration file, docusaurus.config.ts.

Open docusaurus.config.ts.

Add an item to the navbar. Add a new link object to the themeConfig.navbar.items array.

docusaurus.config.ts
// ...
navbar: {
  // ...
  items: [
    // ...existing items...
    { to: '/blog', label: 'ブログ', position: 'left' }, // Blog
    { to: '/portfolio', label: 'ポートフォリオ', position: 'left' }, // ← Add this line
    { to: '/diary', label: '日記', position: 'left' }, // Diary
    // ...
  ],
},
// ...

Add an item to the footer. Add a similar link to the themeConfig.footer.links array.

docusaurus.config.ts
// ...
footer: {
  // ...
  links: [
    {
      title: 'コンテンツ', // Content
      items: [
        // ...existing items...
        {
          label: 'ポートフォリオ', // ← Add this object
          to: '/portfolio',
        },
        // ...
      ],
    },
    // ...
  ],
},
// ...

Step 2: Update Translation Files

Reflect the changes from docusaurus.config.ts into the translation files.

Run the CLI command. Execute the following command in your terminal to extract the added text for translation.
```
docker-compose run --rm app pnpm write-translations --locale en
```
Automatic Translation File Updates
This command scans the changes in docusaurus.config.ts and automatically adds or updates the items that need translation in the JSON files under the i18n/en/docusaurus-theme-classic/ directory.
Update the translation files. Upon successful command execution, new translation keys are automatically added to navbar.json and footer.json under the i18n/en/docusaurus-theme-classic/ directory.

Step 3: Translate to English

Provide the English translation for the newly added keys.

Translate the navbar. Open navbar.json and change the message for item.label.ポートフォリオ to English.

i18n/en/docusaurus-theme-classic/navbar.json
"item.label.ポートフォリオ": {
  "message": "Portfolio", // ← Edit this line
  "description": "Navbar item with label ポートフォリオ"
}

Translate the footer. Open footer.json and edit the message for link.item.label.ポートフォリオ.

i18n/en/docusaurus-theme-classic/footer.json
"link.item.label.ポートフォリオ": {
  "message": "Portfolio", // ← Edit this line
  "description": "The label of footer link with label=ポートフォリオ linking to /portfolio"
}

Step 4: Verify the Translation

Create a production build to check if the edited translations are displayed correctly on the site.

Build the site. Generate the static files for all languages with the following command.
```
docker-compose run --rm app pnpm build
```

Start the preview server. Serve the generated build directory.

docker-compose run --rm --service-ports app pnpm exec http-server build --single --port 3000 --host 0.0.0.0

Verify in the browser.
- Go to http://localhost:3000/en/.
- Confirm that the "Portfolio" link is displayed in the navbar and footer.
- Use the language switcher in the top right corner of the site to switch between languages and check that both displays are as intended.

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Sources​

1. Objective​

2. Internationalization Workflow​

Step 1: Edit the Source Text (Japanese)​

Step 2: Update Translation Files​

Step 3: Translate to English​

Step 4: Verify the Translation​