Where the text comes from
The plugin reads the text straight from the database:
- products, variations, categories, tags and attributes;
- pages and posts;
- menus;
- the store settings (names of shipping and payment methods, payment instructions, and so on);
- and one page of each theme template, to pick up the theme’s own texts (footer, header, buttons).
Where it goes
The text is sent to the PixelHunter translation API, which checks your license, counts the characters and translates. You do not need an API account or a key of your own: the plugin only talks to the PixelHunter translation API.
How it is served
Translations are stored in a dictionary compiled to a PHP file inside wp-content/uploads/. Serving a translated page makes no database query and no internet request.
In the source language the plugin does nothing: zero cost.
On a very heavy translated page (262 KB, 719 replacements) the measured cost is about 130 ms. With a page cache active, that cost only happens once per page and per language.
When it translates
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| You publish or save a product, page or category | Translated a few seconds later, in the background |
| Once a week | The whole site is checked again |
| After a theme or plugin update | The whole site is checked again |
| You click Translate the site | The whole site is read and whatever is missing is translated |
The first three rows need automatic translation, which is on by default in Settings → How to translate. With it off, new content waits until you click Translate the site on the Dashboard.
Only new or changed text is sent. What is already translated never costs anything again.
Composite sentences
Sentences that combine a name with theme text — such as “Be the first to review ‘Summer Dress'” or “5 items” — are assembled from pieces that are already translated at the moment the page is served, instead of being translated one by one for every product. That saves about 60% of the strings.
The panel, tab by tab
At the top of every screen you see:
- the brand and the plugin version;
- the characters left on your license, with a bar;
- the plan and the sites in use (e.g. Pro · 3 of 5 sites);
- a shortcut to My account (your PixelHunter account).
The balance is refreshed every time you open the plugin and after every translation.
Dashboard
- Translate the site — reads the site and translates what is missing (without a license, the button becomes Get a license to translate).
- Import recording — only appears when there is a recording made with recording mode.
- The state of automatic translation (on or off).
- Notices: texts that failed, license or balance errors, pages that did not respond.
- Progress by language — a table per language:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Translated | Translated automatically |
| Reviewed | Reviewed by hand (never replaced by the machine again) |
| To translate | Waiting for translation |
| Failed | The service could not translate it — see Translations |
| Dictionary | Version of the compiled dictionary (e.g. v12) or not built |
License
- The License key field and the Save button next to it.
- The plan cards, with each plan’s price, characters and sites, and the button to subscribe.
- See License, plans and updates.
Languages
- Source language — the language the site is written in.
- Target languages — each target language, with:
- Prefix — the address prefix (2 to 10 characters: lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens). Two languages cannot share the same prefix.
- Name in the switcher — how the language appears in the switcher (e.g. English, Español).
- The button to remove the language.
- The language list shows the most used languages first and then all of them.
Warning: changing the source language after there are translations does not rewrite them — the stored strings remain those of the old language.
Strings
The table of every sentence on the site, with the translation next to it. See Translations.
Switcher
Where the language switcher appears, with which shape and which colours. See Language switcher and The language suggestion bar.
Settings
- Automatic translation
- On (default) — new and edited content is translated in the background.
- Off — translation only happens when you click Translate the site.
- Glossary — one rule per line, for brands, product names and terms that must always come out the same. Example:
acme = acme (brand name, do not translate)
portes = shipping- Brand tone — one or two sentences about the brand’s tone, sent with every translation request. Example: “Warm and simple, no formalities. Speak directly to the customer.”
The glossary and the tone only affect translations made after you save them.
Help
A summary of the license: how it works, plans, sites, balance, cancellation, invoices and support.