WordPress.org is Testing International Theme and Plugin Directories

WordPress.org is making strides towards fully localizing the project’s official theme and plugin directories. Dion Hulse posted this morning that he has enabled localized theme directories for all Rosetta sites. For example, the Romanian themes directory is available at: ro.wordpress.org/themes/.

Theme filters, directory sub-navigation, info and download buttons, and other aspects of the details page are all translated. Description and titles are not yet translated, but Hulse says the plan is to add those in the near future.

Those who are interested in helping translate the interface for the localized theme directories are encouraged to visit the meta translation project page. The process for contributing is the same that is used with WordPress’ other Rosetta translations.

Localized plugin directories are being actively tested at /plugins/ and the sites are also available for contributions from translators. Check out ro.wordpress.org/plugins/ to see the Romanian plugin directory as an example.

As the localized theme and plugin directories are new, there are still a few missing pieces and likely a good number of bugs that will need to be resolved. You can help by reporting them on Hulse’s announcement on the make.wordperss.org/polyglots blog or by opening a ticket on meta.trac.

In Matt Mullenweg’s 2014 State of the Word address, he highlighted the importance of internationalization improvements for connecting and growing the global WordPress community. Localized directories for plugins and themes on WordPress.org are part of this larger effort and make the project’s website easier to navigate for non-English speaking users.

In the future, translation of WordPress’ development handbooks, the codex, and other documentation could also play a large part towards inspiring international developers to make more extensions, products for the marketplace, and contributions back to the project. Growing WordPress’ market share outside of English-speaking countries will be facilitated by having all basic WordPress resources available in other languages.