Widget language and custom text

The widget’s built-in text, such as buttons, form labels and status lines, can follow each visitor’s language or stay in one language you choose. You can also rewrite any of that text to match your brand voice.

#Choose the widget language

Auto (visitor’s language) is the default. It follows each visitor’s browser, or the language your site sets with pengo('setLocale'). Picking a language instead shows the widget in that language to everyone.

#Supported languages

With Auto, a visitor whose browser uses a language that isn’t on this list sees English.

#Right-to-left

Arabic is written right to left, so the widget flips its layout for Arabic: text, bubbles and controls line up from the right.

#Change the widget’s text

Below the language picker, every built-in label is grouped by where it appears:

• Header & status
• Home
• Pre-chat form
• Composer & messages
• Away & email
• Rating
• Meetings
• Errors

Each field shows the English text and its key. Type your own wording to replace it. A changed field shows its default underneath and a Reset link. When you’ve changed anything, a count of customized strings appears at the bottom with Reset all.

With Auto selected, the defaults are shown in English and your changes apply in every language. If you serve several languages, keep overrides for text that reads well in all of them, such as your brand name, or pin one language.

#Set the language from your code

If your site has its own language switcher, keep the widget on Auto and tell Pengo which language to use:

pengo('setLocale', 'fr');

Pass a language code such as fr, or a regional code such as pt-BR. Pengo uses the base language, so pt-BR shows Portuguese. Call it again whenever the visitor changes language, and the widget switches without a reload. See the JavaScript API for the full list of commands.