How to set up a multilingual Joomla site with Gridbox?

On the Internet, you can find a huge number of articles, how to create a multilingual Joomla site, they are all very similar to each other. Unlike others in this tutorial, we will show you step-by-step how to create a multilingual Joomla site using Gridbox.

Recommendations before starting

Before you start developing your first Joomla multilingual website, we recommend that you adhere to the following rules:

• No more than 2 languages for the first time;
• Start with a 1 page.

Start simple so you can quickly understand the basic principles of creating multilingual Joomla sites. In the example, we will create 2 x lingual websites: English — German. In the same way, you can build a 10x lingual website.

Step 1: Duplicate and rename Gridbox theme

1.1. Duplicate theme

On the Gridbox dashboard, click the button Themes ➝ select a theme that you are using ➝ duplicate it by clicking on the Duplicate button.

1.2. Rename duplicate theme

Click on the button Settings ➝ in opened modal window enter a Theme Title (for example, “German - Theme”) ➝ click the button Save.

Also, you need to rename your original theme to "English - Theme".

Step 2: Duplicate, rename and assign Gridbox pages

2.1. Duplicate pages

Right-click on the Home page ➝ select Duplicate from the context menu.

2.2. Rename and assign Gridbox pages

On the newly duplicated Home page, right-click ➝ select Settings.

In the opened window enter the Page Title (for example, German - Home).

Change the Alias (for example, home-de).

Click Theme ➝ in the dropdown list assign German - Theme ➝ click the button Save.

Click the icon Publish Item.

• All the next pages for the German language should be assigned to the Gridbox Theme “German - Theme”

Step 3: Install additional language

In the Joomla admin panel, go to System ➝ Languages.

Using the Search enter the name of the language (in our case German) ➝ click Install.

Step 4: Create new content languages

In the Joomla admin panel, click System ➝ Content Languages.

On the Languages: Content, click the button New.

Fill in all the required fields ➝ click Save & Close:

• Title - German DE
• Title Native - German DE
• Language Tag - de-DE
• URL Language Code - de
• Image - de-de

More about required fields you can find here: Creating a Content Language.

Step 5: Enable Language Filter

Go to System ➝ Extensions.

In the search, enter the Language Filter ➝ click Enable plugin.

Step 6: Create Menu for each language

On the experimental site, we configure two languages, English (default) and German. Therefore, we need to create two Menu. As a result, we should get:

• Main Menu
• Menu English
• Menu German

To do this in the Joomla admin panel, select Menus ➝ Manage ➝ New.

Enter the title Main Menu German ➝ fill in the remaining fields ➝ click Save & Close.

* The same procedure should be done for the English language.

Step 7: Create menu items

7.1. Create menu item

From the Joomla admin panel, go to Menus ➝ Manage ➝ Main Menu German ➝ New.

7.2. Assign Gridbox page

Enter Menu Title.

Select Menu Item Type. 

Click Gridbox ➝ Page.

In the App field select Pages.

In the Page field, select the Gridbox Page “German - Home”.

7.3. Assign German language

Open the Language list ➝ select German.

Navigate to the tab Associations ➝ click Select ➝ choose a suitable English menu item ➝ click Save & Close.

7.4. Assign default page for each language

Click on the Set as Home icon to set the default page in Menu German.

* Repeat step 7 for English.

Step 8: Create Menu module

Go to Content ➝ Site Modules ➝ New.

In the search, enter Menu ➝ click New.

Enter Title ➝ select Menu ➝ click the button Save & Close.

* The same procedure should be done for the English language.

Step 9: Create Language switcher module

Go to System ➝ Extensions ➝ in the search, enter Language switcher ➝ click Enable Extension.

Step 10: Assign Menu modules to Gridbox theme

Go to Components ➝ Gridbox ➝ open page German - Home ➝ click Edit Menu ➝ select the Module Menu ➝ click the button Save.

Step 11: Display Language flags

Select the Language Switcher plugin ➝ click the Save button.

* Repeat steps 10 and 11 for English.

At first glance, this looks very difficult. Yes, it's not very easy for a beginner because it includes a lot of steps. But by following the recommendations above, you will be able to create a multilingual Joomla site.