Web developer in Montreal: French and English versions that stay in step
I build sites in French and English as a web developer in Montreal. The French side is planned as a version of its own, with its own words for search and its own place in the menu. You'll see both versions of every layout before anything is built.
Overview
Who publishes the French?
After launch, new English pages need French versions too. If only one person can publish in French, everything waits on that person.
So before the build, we name who writes the French, who checks it and who presses publish. Sometimes that's one person. Sometimes it's an outside translator, and then the release plan includes them from the start.
The rest is ordinary work. The site loads fast on a phone, and someone at your end can add to it in either language.
What gets built here
What keeps two versions in step
Four decisions, made before the first page is designed.
- 01French titles and meta descriptions, written in French. A French search then finds the French page under its own words.
- 02A toggle that keeps the visitor on the same page. Switching to French from the contact page lands on the French contact page, not the French home page.
- 03A shared list of every page and its two versions. Anyone on your team can see which pages aren't in French yet.
- 04One structure for both languages. A section added in English has a French slot ready for it from the day it's created.
What a scope from me looks like
Lines in a Montreal scope
Pages whose French and English versions differ get lines of their own, so nothing is left to settle halfway through the build.
Included
- A written scope: every page and feature as its own line, agreed before work starts
- Design to build, reviewed on a staging URL that stays open the whole project
- Mobile first — checked on a real phone
- Domain, hosting and every account created in your name from day one
- French and English versions built complete and launched on the same day
- Basic on-page SEO: titles, descriptions, headings, sitemap, Search Console connected
- A runbook at handover: how to edit it, what renews and when
Phase two
- A third language, if your customers need one
- A release calendar for both languages, if the French side needs more planning
- Ongoing SEO once the site has traffic to read
- A maintenance plan once the site is live
- Logo and brand design, quoted separately from the build
Not doing
- Guaranteed rankings
- Advice on what Quebec's language rules require of your business
What moves the number
What adds pages to a Montreal build
Every page exists twice here, once in each language, so the page count carries double weight.
- How many pages the site needs, counted once and built twice
- Whether the French copy is written already, or still being written
- Whether some pages differ between the French and English versions
- Whether case studies exist in both languages
- Rankings in either language that need protecting through the switch
- Whether contact forms and confirmation emails need French versions too
The language a visitor lands on
Which language should a first-time visitor see? It's one of the few choices that shapes the layout itself, which makes it the opening question in our first meeting.
Where this comes from
The record, and the design checks
900+ projects since 2017 is the record I bring to it.
My designer draws one set of layouts that holds both languages. I work out of Kolkata, India, and each design check with you happens over video, wherever your office is. The team works on your schedule, in your time zone.
Nearby
Also in Canada: Ottawa and Toronto
Read about public-sector approval on the Ottawa page, or about writing for one community in a large city on the Toronto page.
FAQ
Running two languages day to day
Both languages are edited in the same place.
Who writes the French copy?
- The French copy comes from someone on your side who writes French well, or from a translator you choose. Their drafts go onto staging first, so you see the French in the real layout before it's published.
What does Quebec law require of a French website?
- Quebec has requirements about the language of commercial communication, and what they mean for your business is a question for someone qualified to advise on them. I'm not that adviser. Once you know what applies, I'll build to it.
Can a contact form reply in French?
- A French contact form can send its confirmation email in French, so someone who wrote to you in French reads the reply in French. The same goes for any automatic email the site sends, and each one gets its own entry in the scope.
Do the French pages get their own addresses?
- Each French page gets an address of its own, written in French, so a French search result shows a French address. The English page and its French partner are linked in the page code, which tells search engines they're the same page in two languages.
Does the French editor get a login of their own?
- Each person who writes or checks French gets a login of their own, so a French page doesn't have to wait for someone else to publish it. The domain, the hosting and both language versions stay in your business's name, and the runbook covers adding a page in either language.
Next step
Size it from your page count
A list of your pages, even an unfinished one, is what our call works from, marking which pages need a French version that differs from the English. It doesn't need to be final.
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