i18next-browser-languageDetector VS moment

Install i18next-browser-languagedetector to simplify language detection in the frontend

There are many other options which you can pass for language detection which you can find in the documentation

The following package will detect the language automatically for us. So don’t have to worry about determining the currently selected language

I wish language selection in OS and Browser were easier to access... but your browser does send a language header with your request, which generally matches your browser.

Location based is and can be a pain. I live in a border state and often get spanish versions of sites... I also follow a couple prominent youtubers who post english and foreign language content, so sometimes get results in those languages, that I don't read.

That said, using the default for the browser, and allowing override isn't a bad thing... I usually look for something that looks like a flag in the upper right, for language selection. And the few times I've written multi-language sites/apps that's the UX I prefer to use. I would default to browser/header, I would respond to the change event, and if the user selects a preference, set a cookie and use that first.

Again, I do wish it were easier to switch for the browser itself.

1. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Ac...

2. https://github.com/i18next/i18next-browser-languageDetector/...

3. https://github.com/i18next/i18next-browser-languageDetector

4. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/lang...

import i18n from "i18next"; import { initReactI18next } from "react-i18next"; import LanguageDetector from "i18next-browser-languagedetector"; i18n // detect user language // learn more: https://github.com/i18next/i18next-browser-languageDetector .use(LanguageDetector) // pass the i18n instance to react-i18next. .use(initReactI18next) // init i18next // for all options read: https://www.i18next.com/overview/configuration-options .init({ debug: true, fallbackLng: "en", interpolation: { escapeValue: false, // not needed for react as it escapes by default }, resources: { en: { translation: { title: "i18n React project", english: "English", spanish: "Spanish", }, }, es: { translation: { title: "Proyecto i18n en React", english: "Ingles", spanish: "Español", }, }, }, }); export default i18n;

import I18NextVue from 'i18next-vue' import i18next from 'i18next' import Backend from 'i18next-locize-backend' import LanguageDetector from 'i18next-browser-languagedetector' import LastUsed from 'locize-lastused' import { locizePlugin } from 'locize' const isProduction = process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production' const locizeOptions = { projectId: process.env.VUE_APP_LOCIZE_PROJECTID, apiKey: process.env.VUE_APP_LOCIZE_APIKEY, // YOU should not expose your apps API key to production!!! version: process.env.VUE_APP_LOCIZE_VERSION } if (!isProduction) { // locize-lastused // sets a timestamp of last access on every translation segment on locize // -> safely remove the ones not being touched for weeks/months // https://github.com/locize/locize-lastused i18next.use(LastUsed); } export const i18nextPromise = i18next // locize-editor // InContext Editor of locize .use(locizePlugin) // i18next-locize-backend // loads translations from your project, saves new keys to it (saveMissing: true) // https://github.com/locize/i18next-locize-backend .use(Backend) // detect user language // learn more: https://github.com/i18next/i18next-browser-languageDetector .use(LanguageDetector) // init i18next // for all options read: https://www.i18next.com/overview/configuration-options .init({ debug: !isProduction, fallbackLng: 'en', saveMissing: !isProduction, backend: locizeOptions, locizeLastUsed: locizeOptions }) export default function (app) { app.use(I18NextVue, { i18next }) return app }

import { hydrate } from 'react-dom' import { RemixBrowser } from 'remix' import i18next from 'i18next' import LanguageDetector from 'i18next-browser-languagedetector' import { initReactI18next } from 'react-i18next' import Backend from 'i18next-locize-backend' import LastUsed from 'locize-lastused' import { locizePlugin } from 'locize' import i18nextOptions from './i18nextOptions' const isProduction = process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production' const locizeOptions = { projectId: 'f6d74b76-9677-4a0d-b400-86e1507397ab', apiKey: !isProduction ? '1c2bbc21-027d-4f41-995a-e8beb451cdef' : undefined, // YOU should not expose your apps API key to production!!! version: isProduction ? 'production' : 'latest' } if (!isProduction) { // locize-lastused // sets a timestamp of last access on every translation segment on locize // -> safely remove the ones not being touched for weeks/months // https://github.com/locize/locize-lastused i18next.use(LastUsed) } // initialize i18next using initReactI18next and configuring it if (!i18next.isInitialized) { // prevent i18next to be initialized multiple times i18next // locize-editor // InContext Editor of locize .use(locizePlugin) // i18next-locize-backend // loads translations from your project, saves new keys to it (saveMissing: true) // https://github.com/locize/i18next-locize-backend .use(Backend) // detect user language // learn more: https://github.com/i18next/i18next-browser-languageDetector .use(LanguageDetector) // pass the i18n instance to react-i18next. .use(initReactI18next) // init i18next // for all options read: https://www.i18next.com/overview/configuration-options .init({ ...i18nextOptions, detection: { caches: ['cookie'], lookupCookie: 'i18next' }, backend: locizeOptions, locizeLastUsed: locizeOptions, saveMissing: !isProduction // you should not use saveMissing in production }) .then(() => { // then hydrate your app wrapped in the RemixI18NextProvider return hydrate( , document ) }) }

const getGreetingTime = () => { const split_afternoon = 12; // 24hr time to split the afternoon const split_evening = 17; // 24hr time to split the evening const currentHour = moment().hour(); if (currentHour >= split_afternoon && currentHour <= split_evening) { return 'afternoon'; } else if (currentHour >= split_evening) { return 'evening'; } return 'morning'; } const rerender = () => { // start localizing, details: // https://github.com/i18next/jquery-i18next#usage-of-selector-function $('body').localize(); $('#footerMessage').localize({ context: getGreetingTime() }); $('title').text($.t('head.title')) $('meta[name=description]').attr('content', $.t('head.description')) } const locizeOptions = { projectId: '8d751621-323e-4bda-94c8-7d2368102e62', apiKey: '302aca54-2ea8-4b9f-b5f0-df1369c59427' // YOU should not expose your apps API key to production!!! }; i18next.on('editorSaved', rerender); // used for the inContext editor $(function () { const locizeBackend = new i18nextLocizeBackend(locizeOptions, (err, opts, lngs) => { if (err) return console.error(err); // use plugins and options as needed, for options, detail see // https://www.i18next.com i18next // locize-editor // InContext Editor of locize .use(locize.locizePlugin) // locize-lastused (do not use this in production) // sets a timestamp of last access on every translation segment on locize // -> safely remove the ones not being touched for weeks/months // https://github.com/locize/locize-lastused .use(locizeLastUsed) // i18next-locize-backend // loads translations from your project, saves new keys to it (saveMissing: true) // https://github.com/locize/i18next-locize-backend .use(locizeBackend) // detect user language // learn more: https://github.com/i18next/i18next-browser-languageDetector .use(i18nextBrowserLanguageDetector) // init i18next // for all options read: https://www.i18next.com/overview/configuration-options .init({ ...opts, debug: true, fallbackLng: 'en', backend: locizeOptions, locizeLastUsed: locizeOptions, saveMissing: true // interpolation: { // // legacy usage // format: (value, format, lng) => { // if (value instanceof Date) { // return moment(value).locale(lng).format(format); // } // return value; // } // } }, (err, t) => { if (err) return console.error(err); // new usage i18next.services.formatter.add('LLLL', (value, lng, options) => { return moment(value).locale(lng).format('LLLL'); }); // for options see // https://github.com/i18next/jquery-i18next#initialize-the-plugin jqueryI18next.init(i18next, $, { useOptionsAttr: true }); // fill language switcher Object.keys(lngs).map((lng) => { const opt = new Option(lngs[lng].nativeName, lng); if (lng === i18next.resolvedLanguage) { opt.setAttribute("selected", "selected"); } $('#languageSwitcher').append(opt); }); let languageChangedCounter = 0; $('#languageSwitcher').change((a, b, c) => { const chosenLng = $(this).find("option:selected").attr('value'); i18next.changeLanguage(chosenLng, () => { rerender(); // language changed message languageChangedCounter++; $('#languageChangedNotification').localize({ count: languageChangedCounter }) if (languageChangedCounter === 1) { $('#languageChangedNotification').show(); } }); }); rerender(); $('#loader').hide(); $('#content').show(); }); }); });

In addition, we need to install i18next-http-backend which allows us to fetch translations from a directory, and i18next-browser-languagedetector which allows us to detect the user's language:

my go-to localization package is this: https://react.i18next.com/ used with https://github.com/i18next/i18next-browser-languageDetector

To learn more about Moment.js, please visit their official website.

Ah, Moment.js, the guardian angel of date and time manipulation. Ever needed to format a date, calculate durations, or display something like "2 days ago"? Moment.js has got your back. It's a lifesaver for anything date and time-related, making it a must-have in your project, especially if you're into making your users feel like you really get them.

After hours of trying to figure out why Jekyll was still showing "Today" for a post I modified last week, I remembered that I am using the timeago filter from jekyll-timeago plugin. I was rendering the dates using {{ doc.last_modified_at | timeago }}. As you know, Jekyll is a static site generator, and it renders this as HTML at the time of build, and only then. This means any date rendered with timeago is hardcoded as is in the HTML and won't change until the next build. I switched all the dates to the "%-d %b %y" format for now. Might use moment.js in the future to get the timeago dates back.

moment: Handles date and time manipulations with ease. Learn more

For the longest time working with dates in JavaScript was a huge pain. That’s why libraries such as moment.js or date-fns are so popular. A lot of times I’d reach for these libraries when working with relative time formatting, but since late last year we’ve had pretty great browser support for the RelativeTimeFormat() method. In my mind, relative dates are just more visually appealing, especially for working with dates internationally. Dates like "5 days ago" or "in 2 months" are far more intuitive for users than 12/12/2023, or 03/11/2027. Folks in the US will see that as March 11, 2027, whereas the rest of the world will see that as November 03, 2027. What a nightmare.

İ am using moment js for a long time. You can check it also. https://momentjs.com/

We could control the DST flip by setting the test's input time to the appropriate time of year (summer/winter). However we couldn't control the timezone. We had to adjust the expected data in the test 🤢 using the same library which the production code used (momentjs).

8. Moment.js

This may sound a bit general but we can't forget about well-tought code. If we are using a lot of external dependencies, we can check if there aren't many lighter alternatives. Example? Some people are still using moment.js for date formatting. Why not use a lightweight 2kb alternative instead? Writing clean, organized and maintainable code won't give us a huge score boost but we are trying to save every byte of data, right? 😉