the least fun part of developing apps

Supporting multiple languages.

Internationalization.

It's not terrible at first, because problem solving is one of the things I enjoy doing most. So, it's actually fun trying to figure out how I'm going to do it.

But, once I've figured it out for the current stack of technology that I'm using, then it quickly becomes a copy-paste ritual that I absolutely dread doing.

I've done this across 3 different apps now and it's hands down the most soul-draining part of developing an app.

This time around, I wanted my bullet journalling app, Doaily, to have support for multiple languages.

Again, I've done this for two other apps that I have out in the market, but not for the specific technology that I used to create Doaily.

So, I was engaged.

It was something I didn't know how to do, which meant I had to learn, problem solve, and build a working solution.

Setting up a localization provider, getting the i18n package to behave, and figuring out how to route translations through a JSON file...

That part was fun.

Once the system was in place, this just became the grunt work of:

• making a file
• adding a key
• copying a phrase
• translating a phrase

Rinse and repeat.

Not fun.

//Why I did it anyway

Well, it's important.

Not just for user experience, but also for the growth of Doaily.

The world is big.

So, the obvious thing is that supporting languages other than the country I live in makes the app a lot more accessible and inclusive.

And now that the system is in place to do so, I only have smaller bits of translations to worry about moving forward as I push out new features.

Basically, it will still suck, but it's at least not as overwhelming compared to when I first rolled out the update and had to translate everything.

//Making it suck less

AI agents.

With AI agents, I can just create the English version and let it generate the files for the other languages that I want to support.

It's a godsend.

Although the translations are probably not the best, it's a good base that the app can start off with.

So, if there are any wrong translation in the app, please just reach out! You would know how within the app :)

That's it.

Thought I would share because I've been gone for a while struggling to balance everything I want to be doing in my life.

I feel like I have a lot of writing to catch up on now, especially in terms of the changes that I've been making for Doaily.

So, that's a bit of a status update.

I'm still here.

Just figuring it out like everyone else :D

– Renz