Custom sidebar section translations break after changing the site's default locale

zogstrip · July 24, 2026, 4:35pm

I gave this one a quick shot

github.com/discourse/discourse

FIX: Base custom sidebar section translations on their source locale (#42027)

main ← fix-sidebar-source-locale

merged 03:49PM - 03 Aug 26 UTC

ZogStriP

+1670 -539

Previously, the custom sidebar section editor and the server assumed a section's… base title and link names were written in the site's current *default* locale, so changing the default locale scrambled which language each stored value mapped to and offered the wrong set of translation targets ([meta](https://meta.discourse.org/t/408327)). This change keys the editor, the same-locale de-duplication and the collision cleanup off each record's own source locale — now surfaced as an editable "Section language" — and reorganises the translation UI around languages rather than fields. ### Notable behaviour changes - Links keep their own source language, so saving a section no longer relabels a link authored in a different one. - A localization colliding with its record's source is now destroyed instead of being left behind to shadow the base string. The collision is matched **exactly**, so a regional variant like `en_GB` under an `en` source is preserved. - Localization permissions are evaluated against the visibility being *submitted*, so making a section public and translating it in one save no longer 403s and loses the edit. - `create` now enforces localization permissions, which it previously skipped entirely — an admin could write localizations onto a private section. A non-admin submitting localizations on create now gets a `403` instead of a silent drop, matching `update`. - A submitted locale is validated at the request boundary: an unsupported or over-long value returns `400` rather than an unhandled `500`. A value already stored on the record is still accepted, so AI-detected locales outside the supported list stay editable. ### UI <img width="821" height="646" alt="2026-07-29 @ 14 56 10" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/19dad480-9f77-4f5b-b1a6-ed29689839a8" /> <img width="820" height="666" alt="2026-07-29 @ 14 56 16" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/a9377282-d4b2-43af-91a6-700e10c50ce6" /> Translations moved from inline per-field rows to a single "Manage translations" entry point opening a language-major panel — one group per language holding the section title and every link name. The old layout rendered `1 + links × languages` rows with an add button per field, which stopped being usable at three links and two languages. A blank field means "not translated yet" rather than invalid, and clearing a saved translation now asks for confirmation before removing it.

Topic		Replies	Views
Feature request: make it possible to translate custom sidebar links and sections Feature sidebar , ai , dynaloc , content-localization	6	534	July 22, 2026
How to translate items added via "Edit Custom Section" and Theme <head>? Support	4	150	July 22, 2026
Translations for Terms of Service, Privacy Translations	6	1724	May 22, 2019
Custom sidebar sections being tested on meta Announcements sidebar	149	13724	October 21, 2023
Some of Site Texts doesn't accept changes Support	10	942	September 30, 2020

Custom sidebar section translations break after changing the site's default locale

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