One of the main reasons companies choose modern CMS platforms is their flexibility and ability to reach global audiences. This applies not only to website content but also to the administration interface itself.
If you’re working with Xperience by Kentico, you may have noticed a recent addition in the latest hotfixes: Admin UI localization. With this feature, you can localize not only system texts but also your custom modules and even third-party extensions.
The result? An administration environment that truly speaks your users’ language—whether it’s English, Czech, German, or Japanese.
Key Benefits of Admin UI Localization
- Unified mechanism – works seamlessly for both system texts and your custom or external extensions.
- Automatic switching – translations apply instantly after changing the administration language.
- Consistency – a coherent experience, no matter which language is used.
- Attention to detail – since version 30.9.0, date and time formatting also follows the selected language.
How It Works in the Backend
On the backend, localization is handled via the ILocalizationService interface, which provides two essential methods:
- GetString – returns the localized value for a given key in the current language.
- LocalizeString – replaces placeholders in the format {$stringname$} with localized values.
👉 Example usage:
// Direct key translation
var text = localizationService.GetString("mymodule.customfield.label");
// Localizing a placeholder
var localized = localizationService.LocalizeString("{$mymodule.customfield.description$}");
// Placeholder embedded in a longer text
var message = localizationService.LocalizeString("Please fill in {$mymodule.customfield.label$} before continuing.");Localization in Builder Environments
Localization is not limited to backend code. It is also supported in:
- Page builder
- Form builder
- Email builder
For these scenarios, Xperience provides the IAdminBuildersLocalizationService interface, which includes similar methods (GetString, LocalizeString) and lets you retrieve the current administration language—very useful when working with language-specific component texts.
Bonus: Localizing Custom Fields and Configurations
Admin UI localization also extends to your own project specifics. You can translate:
- Labels and descriptions in custom Content Types
- Texts in custom modules
- Froala WYSIWYG editor configurations
All it takes is adding a placeholder in the {$stringname$} format. At runtime, it is automatically resolved from the .resx file.
Why It Matters
- Multilingual teams – administrators can work in their native language.
- Project consistency – system and custom texts feel unified and professional.
- Faster onboarding – new users from other regions can quickly get up to speed.
- Maintainability – managing translations through .resx files is standardized and integrates with CI/CD pipelines.
Conclusion
Admin UI localization in Xperience by Kentico is a major step toward a fully multilingual administration environment. It supports both system and custom texts, integrates with Builder environments, and even applies to custom fields and editor configurations.
👉 If you’re building solutions for international clients—or simply want to simplify workflows for your internal team—this feature is well worth adopting.
You can find more details in the official Kentico documentation.
