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Introduction to the GDN

This article is a high-level overview of the GDN and how it works.

Smartling’s Global Delivery Network (GDN) is a web content translation solution that enables you to localize your website using proxy-based and client-side technologies. Combining a translation proxy and a client-side component allows you to easily localize any website or web application, regardless of the underlying technology used to build that site. 

A translation proxy is a layer between your website and your end users. It listens for and forwards requests from a user’s browser to a web server and responses from the web server back to the browser. As the response from the web server passes through the translation proxy, it transforms the content in the response by taking actions like swapping in translated text or rewriting URLs. The essentials of your website are maintained (layout, design, images, etc.), but the GDN automatically replaces items needed for translation (e.g. page text, links to other pages, HTML tags).

You can similarly visualize the GDN to an image filter on a photograph. The photograph (your source website) changes when a filter (a translation language) is applied. It’s still recognizable as the same photograph but has been altered according to the filter. Thus, the translation proxy translates the web content in transit between the web server and the browser. This approach works particularly well for HTML-based content, but with appropriate configuration, it can also be used for other content types.

The GDN's client-side translation technology, known as Dynamic Content Support (DCS), intercepts text at the moment it is rendered in the browser and replaces it with translated text. This approach is advantageous when websites are built using frameworks such as React, Next, Vue, or Angular (among others). These frameworks stitch together components of a page in such a way that translation is most effective when those components are rendered in the browser. Translating those items in transit via the proxy is possible, but the results can be unpredictable or unstable.

Smartling’s Global Delivery Network provides a modern, scalable and automated solution for localizing web content by combining proxy-based and client-side translation approaches.

Finally, leveraging the GDN eliminates the need to internationalize your website or host translations within your own infrastructure.

How your website is translated with the GDN

There are three stages to translating your website with the GDN:

  1. Configure the GDN to recognize which content should be translated.
  2. Capture content for translation by browsing web pages.
  3. Translate content in Smartling.

Note: It is important to note that each stage must be revisited, and the process must be repeated each time your website structure or content changes. For more information, read our documentation on Maintaining Your Translated Website.

Stage 1: Configure the GDN to Recognize Content for Translation

In this stage, you work with Smartling Professional Services, your IT Ops, and web development teams to set up the GDN on your network and website. The goal is to configure the GDN to identify which website content needs to be translated.

By default, the proxy captures all HTML content for translation. However, you might prefer to control this behavior by excluding specific content or pages. Dynamic Content Support (DCS) will automatically capture content from JSON and Javascript. In some instances, the proxy may best handle large batches of content contained in these sources instead of using DCS. The Smartling Professional Services team will help you determine where and when to employ the various components of the GDN best. 

This stage involves testing and implementing a custom configuration to ensure the GDN captures the correct content for translation. Once that is completed and your GDN project is connected correctly to your source site, it’s time to send your content to Smartling for translation.

Stage 2: Capture Content for Translation

If you are familiar with translating content in Smartling, you’ll know that content is ingested manually by file upload or automatically by an API or Connector integration.

With the GDN, however, content is captured and sent to Smartling when a user or bot accesses your localized website and browses the page. The configuration of the GDN ensures that translatable text on any page that is browsed is automatically sent to your GDN project in Smartling.

You can rely on organic end user and bot traffic to capture content, or integrate the GDN Crawler to browse through the pages of your website. 

Stage 3: Translate Content in Smartling

Your web page content is captured by Smartling where it is translated by a human or machine (or both!) in a translation Job. The translation Job typically consists of multiple workflow steps. When the Job is authorized, translators assigned to each step can access your content in the CAT Tool. With the translation proxy, your website is automatically visible to translators in the CAT Tool. When the translations reach the Published step of the workflow, they automatically display on your localized page. 

When a translation is saved by a linguist as it moves through the workflow, it is stored in the translation memory (TM). The TM acts as a live repository of your translated segments. This repository eliminates the cost of hosting and managing translations, by allowing the automated retrieval of previous translations. As a result, the translated content seamlessly populates your localized domains every time they are accessed, ensuring consistent and up-to-date language representation.

Tip: For more information, read our documentation on How to Translate Your Website.

How to manage changes to your website

When the source content on a page changes, the pages must be browsed again to send the updated content to Smartling for translation. Only new or modified content is captured for translation, while unchanged source content isn't recaptured or sent to your GDN project. Until the translations are published or prepublished in Smartling, the updated web pages will display a mix of translated and untranslated text on the localized page. This is known as "source bleed through".

When your website’s experience or technology changes, the GDN must be reconfigured to adapt to the updates. Overlooking your GDN configuration during any website or infrastructure change may also result in bleed through.

Tip: For more information to ensure the end user does not experience your website as a mix of translated and untranslated text, read our documentation on Maintaining your Translated Website.

In Summary

To translate your website with the GDN:

  1. Configure the GDN
    • Work with your Customer Success Manager and Smartling Professional Services to set up and maintain your GDN project in Smartling
    • Work with Smartling Professional Services and your IT team to set up your network configuration and website 
  2. Capture Content
  3. Translate 
    • Authorize content for translation in a Job
      • When translations reach the Published step and your end user visits the localized site, the GDN displays the translated content

Tip: Repeat the process each time your web content is updated and each time your website changes (redesign, networking etc.). For more information, read our documentation on Maintaining Your Translated Website.

The People Involved

It’s important to understand that integrating with the GDN is a team effort, from the beginning and throughout your website’s evolution. Your Smartling Global Delivery Network includes your Customer Success Manager and Smartling Professional Services. 

With the GDN, you'll have your Smartling Customer Success Manager guiding your localization strategy, while Smartling’s Professional Services team becomes an integral part of your web development and IT operations team. Together, they handle all technical aspects of your localized digital presence from implementation and throughout your website’s evolution.

The people involved in the translation of your website include:

  1. Your content team (localization, marketing)
  2. Your web developers (including external vendors/web agencies)
  3. Your IT Ops team (including external vendors/CDNs)
  4. Your Smartling Customer Success Manager
  5. Your Solutions Architect (Smartling Professional Services)
  6. Your Translation vendor (e.g. Smartling Language Services)

 

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