The Editor
There are others, but this is most used: Poedit, a cross-platform gettext catalogs (.po files) editor.
The Formats
.mo
stands for Machine Object
— compiled export of the.po
file which is used by WordPress.po
stands for Portable Object
— editable text file with the translations strings
— based on the master.pot
file, using Update from POT file PoEdit function
— some folks distribute this as a master file, but it should be used only for translations.pot
stands for Portable Object Template
— editable text file used to grab all the translatable strings from WordPress itself and Themes and Plugins, using Update from Sources PoEdit function
The Procedure
- Duplicate the .pot file and rename it to
plugin-basename-lang_COUNTRY.po
- Example for the referenced plugin case:
subscribe-reloaded-pt_BR.po
— pt_BR means Portuguese Brazil, but many languages don’t have a country variation…
— you’ll have to fill in with your own language WPLANG
inwp-config.php
file must be set to your language, e.g.,pt_BR
- Every time you save the
.po
file, PoEdit automatically generates a.mo
file, which is the one WordPress uses and basically the only one you need to upload
Observations
- If you do a full or a decent partial translation, submit it to the plugin author so he can include it in the Repository and you get credited for it
- Don’t forget to make a backup of your translation, because if you upgrade the plugin your file will be lost
- @user17078 plugin suggestion is quite nice, but I never used it much