I wanted to share an exciting update to tap:i18n, the Meteor internationalization package many of us use. We’ve just released v1.12.x, which introduces a powerful new feature: the TAP_I18N_PRELOADED_LANGS global variable.
This global variable allows developers to specify which language files to preload before the page is presented to the user, eliminating the flickering between English and the intended language. This makes it significantly easier to manage multilingual applications efficiently. Here’s a quick example of how to use it:
<head>
<script>
TAP_I18N_PRELOADED_LANGS = ["pt-BR", "zh-TW", "he"];
</script>
<!-- ... Your Meteor app's JS bundle ... -->
</head>
Full documentation for the feature is available here
We’ve already put this feature to the test on justdo.com, a source available project management solution (obviously, powered by Meteor 
), where it’s successfully supporting over 40 languages. With this implementation, I believe JustDo is now the most extensively translated project management tool available (with another 20 languages coming soon).
Previously, to avoid English flickering, it was necessary to preload all language translations, which became impractical with such a large number of languages. This new approach offers a more efficient solution for large multilingual applications.
See for example the way that the Khmer (the language spoken in Cambodia) translation is loading smoothly: https://justdo.com/lang/km .
On a related note, I’m thrilled to announce that the JustDo.com source code will be available soon. I’ll be making a separate announcement in the coming weeks with more details. However, if you’re interested in early access, feel free to reach out to me via DM.