Leveraging Standard Data Sets for Geographic and Cultural Elements in WordPress
As developers working on multilingual and internationalized WordPress sites, one common challenge is sourcing consistent and reliable data for fundamental elements such as countries, languages, and currencies. These “common elements” are essential for creating intuitive user interfaces and ensuring accurate data representation.
In the development phase of a recent project, I encountered a similar situation. While I initially deferred implementing complete support for currencies and languages — opting to store language codes like ‘en’ for English or ‘de’ for German in my database — I recognized that displaying these codes in the user interface isn’t user-friendly. Users might not immediately understand that ‘de’ corresponds to Germany, or what the various currency codes signify.
At this stage, I began exploring options for integrating comprehensive datasets for countries, languages, and currencies. External APIs seemed like an attractive solution, offering ready-made, regularly updated information. However, I found myself questioning the reliability and accuracy of the available services.
Alternatively, developing a custom API or data container could provide more control but would require ongoing maintenance and updates, which might negate some of the advantages of using pre-built data sources. Of course, there’s also the possibility of importing static datasets, such as ISO standard lists, which can be embedded directly into the plugin or theme code.
Before proceeding, I wanted to tap into the community knowledge. Are there any reputable, well-maintained APIs or libraries for accessing standardized datasets of countries, languages, and currencies? Or perhaps you’re using a method that works seamlessly within WordPress? Sharing your experiences or suggestions would be greatly appreciated — after all, there’s little need to reinvent the wheel when reliable resources are readily available.
Your insights could help streamline the development process and improve user experience on multilingual WordPress sites.
