Building a website that actually speaks two languages
Most "multilingual" websites are one language with a translation plugin taped on. The English version is the real site; the Persian version is an afterthought that breaks every time a developer ships a new feature without remembering to wire up the second language field. Fanpino CMS was built backwards from that pattern: every content model, articles, products, services, projects, carries en and fa fields side by side from the schema up, so there is no "primary" language to forget the other one.
Why bolting Persian onto an English CMS breaks down
Persian isn't just a translated string, it's right-to-left, it needs its own typography, and it usually needs its own currency and pricing logic too. Plugin-based i18n on WordPress or a headless CMS not designed for RTL from day one tends to solve the text problem and quietly ignore the layout and pricing problem, which is where the real support tickets come from.
How Fanpino CMS handles it
- Native RTL/LTR switching, the layout direction flips with the language, not just the text alignment.
- Dual currency pricing, USD and a local currency are both first-class fields on every product, shown automatically based on the visitor's language.
- One admin panel, two languages, editors fill in both language fields in the same form, so nothing gets published half-translated by accident.
Built on a stack meant to be extended, not just used
The backend is FastAPI (Python); the frontend is React 19 with full TypeScript coverage. Authentication supports both JWT and Google OAuth2, with role-based access control for teams that need more than one admin. None of this is exotic, it's a deliberately boring, well-documented stack so a development team inheriting the codebase isn't starting from zero.
Who this is actually for
Teams serving both Persian-speaking and international audiences from a single site, without maintaining two separate codebases, two separate admin panels, or two separate mental models of "what's published where."
Frequently asked questions
Why do translation plugins break bilingual websites?
They treat the second language as an afterthought. One language is the real site, and the other breaks whenever a developer ships a feature without wiring up its field. Plugin-based i18n also tends to solve the text and ignore right-to-left layout and pricing, which is where the real support tickets come from.
How does Fanpino CMS handle right-to-left and left-to-right languages?
Every content model, including articles, products, services and projects, carries both language fields side by side from the schema up. The layout direction flips with the language, not just the text alignment, and editors fill in both languages in one form, so nothing gets published half-translated by accident.
We apply the same right-to-left-first approach in our UI/UX design work for any product that has to ship in Arabic as well as English.
What tech stack is Fanpino CMS built on?
The backend is FastAPI in Python and the frontend is React 19 with full TypeScript coverage. Authentication supports JWT and Google OAuth2, with role-based access control for teams that need more than one admin. It is a deliberately boring, well-documented stack, so a team inheriting the codebase isn't starting from zero.
If you also want to run the platform on your own servers, see how Fanpino CMS ships as Docker containers you host yourself.
