Link HREFLANG

By David Walsh on February 11, 2014

If you work on a website that is offered in more than one language, you deserve a medal. The need to localize almost everything is tough and sometimes feels very limiting. No adding text to imagery, never knowing how different translation will affect layout, maintaining different templates, etc. A very necessary task but damn, it can be tough.

Here's one easy part of localizing that's easy: adding link elements which reference alternate URLs per language. Here's how you'd use it:

<!-- Used on CNN -->
<link href="http://edition.cnn.com" hreflang="en-gb" rel="alternate" title="CNN International" type="text/html"/>
<link href="http://arabic.cnn.com" hreflang="ar" rel="alternate" title="CNN Arabic" type="text/html"/>
<link href="http://mexico.cnn.com" hreflang="es" rel="alternate" title="CNN Mexico" type="text/html"/>

<!-- Used on MDN -->
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="ar" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/ar/docs/Web/CSS" title="ورقة الأنماط الإنسيابية">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="bn-BD" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/bn-BD/docs/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="ca" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/ca/docs/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="cs" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/cs/docs/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="de" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/de/docs/Web/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="es" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/es/docs/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="fa" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/fa/docs/Web/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/fr/docs/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="id" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/id/docs/Web/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="it" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/it/docs/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="ja" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/ja/docs/Web/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="ko" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/ko/docs/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="nl" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/nl/docs/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="pl" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/pl/docs/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="pt-BR" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/pt-BR/docs/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="pt-PT" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/pt-PT/docs/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="ru" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/ru/docs/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="vi" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/vi/docs/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="zh-CN" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/zh-CN/docs/CSS" title="CSS">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="zh-TW" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/zh-TW/docs/CSS" title="CSS">

The code is very self-explanatory so I won't break it down, but it's something you should be adding when a page is available in more than one language.

Recent Features

By David WalshSeptember 21, 2017

How to Create a RetroPie on Raspberry Pi – Graphical Guide

Today we get to play amazing games on our super powered game consoles, PCs, VR headsets, and even mobile devices. While I enjoy playing new games these days, I do long for the retro gaming systems I had when I was a kid: the original Nintendo...

By David WalshNovember 2, 2015

JavaScript Promise API

While synchronous code is easier to follow and debug, async is generally better for performance and flexibility. Why "hold up the show" when you can trigger numerous requests at once and then handle them when each is ready? Promises are becoming a big part of the JavaScript world...

Incredible Demos

By David WalshMay 11, 2010

Animated AJAX Record Deletion Using Dojo

I'm a huge fan of WordPress' method of individual article deletion. You click the delete link, the menu item animates red, and the item disappears. Here's how to achieve that functionality with Dojo JavaScript. The PHP - Content & Header The following snippet goes at the...

By David WalshOctober 27, 2011

Control Element Outline Position with outline-offset

I was recently working on a project which featured tables that were keyboard navigable so obviously using cell outlining via traditional tabIndex=0 and element outlines was a big part of allowing the user navigate quickly and intelligently. Unfortunately I ran into a Firefox 3.6 bug...