# Website I18N

> Internationalisation essentials for a website — URL structure for locales, hreflang, localised metadata, the lang attribute on inline content, language switchers, RTL support, and locale-aware formatting. Use when adding multilingual or multi-regional content to a site.

- Skill: `paulgrape/website-i18n` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add paulgrape/website-i18n`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/paulgrape/website-i18n/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: paulgrape (https://skillmd.com/u/paulgrape)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/paulgrape/website-i18n

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# Website internationalisation

Language, locale, direction, and translated content. Curated from the
[Website Specification — Internationalisation](https://specification.website/checklist/) (CC BY 4.0).

## Required

- Mark passages and inline elements that differ from the document language with their own `lang` attribute (WCAG 3.1.2).

## Recommended

- Pick one URL pattern for locales (ccTLD, subdomain, or subdirectory) and keep it consistent.
- `hreflang` annotations using BCP 47 codes, reciprocal across all alternates.
- Localise every visible string in the head and structured data, not just the body.
- Language switcher listing each locale in its own language ('Deutsch', '日本語'); no flags.
- RTL support: set `dir="rtl"` and use CSS logical properties for Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Urdu.
- Locale-aware dates, numbers, currency, and plural rules via `Intl` APIs.

## Avoid

- Automatic IP-based or Accept-Language language redirects — let users choose.

Full item list and rationale: https://specification.website/checklist/