Creating a Multilingual Website with Next.js and Strapi

In today’s interconnected world, reaching a global audience isn’t just an advantage – it’s becoming a necessity. I recently embarked on a journey to create a multilingual website using Next.js and Strapi, and I’m excited to share my experience and insights with you.

Why Next.js and Strapi?

Before diving into the technical details, let’s understand why this combination is particularly powerful. Next.js provides an excellent framework for building fast, SEO-friendly websites, while Strapi offers a flexible headless CMS that makes content management a breeze. Together, they create a robust foundation for multilingual websites.

Setting Up the Foundation

Getting started with a multilingual setup requires careful planning. First, we need to configure Strapi to handle multiple languages. The process is surprisingly straightforward – Strapi’s internationalization plugin does most of the heavy lifting. After installation, you can enable languages like English, Spanish, French, or any other languages your project requires.

Content Structure and Management

One of the most crucial aspects of building a multilingual website is organizing your content effectively. In Strapi, you’ll want to create content-types that support localization. This means your blog posts, pages, and other content can have different versions for each language while maintaining the same structure.

Implementing Language Switching in Next.js

The front-end implementation requires careful consideration of user experience. I implemented a language switcher that persists the user’s preference across sessions using local storage. The routing structure uses dynamic paths based on the selected language, making it both user and SEO-friendly.

Best Practices and Lessons Learned

Through this project, I discovered several crucial practices:

1. Always provide fallback content in your default language
2. Use proper HTML lang attributes for better accessibility
3. Implement proper SEO meta tags for each language
4. Consider using middleware for language detection
5. Cache API responses to improve performance

Creating a multilingual website might seem daunting at first, but with Next.js and Strapi, you have powerful tools at your disposal. The key is to plan your content structure carefully and implement proper language switching mechanisms.