Help › If our servers are down
The honest limits of the promise
On this page
A promise is only useful if you know where it stops.
Publishing needs our servers#
Showing translations you have already published does not. Changing, translating and publishing new text does. While we are down, new text on your site stays in the original language until we are back.
First-time visitors need one working place#
A returning visitor can use the copy saved in their browser. A first-time visitor needs at least one of the places that hold your files: your own site or one of the CDNs. If none works, they see your original language.
The loader script has to come from somewhere#
- On WordPress it comes inside the plugin, from your own site.
- On Shopify it can come with the theme extension.
- With the plain script tag it comes from our CDN. If that CDN is down, the script cannot run. For independence, use a numbered loader address and keep your own copy. See Keep your own copy.
Browsers without the needed features#
Files are protected with a digital signature that the browser must check. A browser that cannot check it stays on the original language on purpose. This is safer than showing unchecked text. The loader also needs the modern features Fetch, Promise, MutationObserver and TextEncoder. Which browser versions support the signature check is verify.
Search engines#
Translations that the loader applies in the browser are not seen by most crawlers. See SEO and the script tag.
Your own site#
If your own website is down, nothing on it can be translated or seen. The promise concerns our servers, not yours.
What is not chosen yet#
- The second CDN provider is OPEN. Two independent providers are what makes the promise work. Until the owner chooses one, there is one planned delivery path less.
- Public CDN host names are OPEN.
- CDN providers may add their own cookies or headers by default. Checking each one is verify.
With only one place, translations depend on our host#
At the start your translations are served from this product's own host. That works, and a returning visitor still sees the copy saved in their browser. But if that one host is down, a first-time visitor sees your original language. The promise in full needs a second, independent place (a CDN or object storage). The dashboard shows how many places you have and recommends adding one. Adding it later changes configuration only; nothing you published has to be redone. OPEN: which second provider is chosen.
Nothing is live#
All of this describes the design and the tests in the repository. No production service exists yet.