Improve i18n DX to translate the `_category_.yml` labels

[Ikalli]

Have you read the Contributing Guidelines on issues?

• I have read the Contributing Guidelines on issues.

Prerequisites

• I'm using the latest version of Docusaurus.
• I have tried the npm run clear or yarn clear command.
• I have tried rm -rf node_modules yarn.lock package-lock.json and re-installing packages.
• I have tried creating a repro with https://new.docusaurus.io.
• I have read the console error message carefully (if applicable).

Description

I am currently internationalizing (i18n) a document written in Korean into English.

The sidebar of my document is all autogenerated sidebar.

// sidebar.js

/** @type {import('@docusaurus/plugin-content-docs').SidebarsConfig} */
const sidebars = {
  // By default, Docusaurus generates a sidebar from the docs folder structure
  exampleSidebar: [{ type: 'autogenerated', dirName: 'example-dir' }],
};

module.exports = sidebars;

I have copied the /docs subfolders originally written in Korean to /i18n/en/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs and I am translating the documents into English. However, even if I change the label attribute in /i18n/en/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/example-dir/under-example-dir/_category_.yml to English, it continues to appear in Korean in the sidebar.

# /i18n/en/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/example-dir/under-example-dir/_category_.yml
position: 2
label: 'Example'
collapsible: true
collapsed: false

# /docs/example-dir/under-example-dir/_category_.yml
position: 2
label: '예제'
collapsible: true
collapsed: false

I run docusaurus following step:

1. yarn dev --locale en

But in example-dir sidebar, it displays Korean, not English.

I already wrote about this in #8986

Reproducible demo

https://github.com/dogu-team/dogu-docs

Steps to reproduce

1. Clone or fork https://github.com/dogu-team/dogu-docs this repository and open
2. Checkout branch to label_reproduce
3. Enter yarn newbie
4. Change docs/host-and-device/host/_category_.yml as

   position: 2
   label: '호스트'
   collapsible: true
   collapsed: false

5. Check i18n/en/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/current/host-and-device/host/_category_.yml. This should be

   position: 2
   label: 'Host'
   collapsible: true
   collapsed: false

6. yarn dev --locale en or yarn build && yarn serve
7. Go to http://localhost:3100/en/host-and-device/host/get-started and check sidebar.
8. Sidebar label will still '호스트'(korean), not 'Host'.

Expected behavior

Sidebar label should be 'Host', not Korean

Actual behavior

Sidebar label shows '호스트', not English

Your environment

• Public source code: https://github.com/dogu-team/dogu-docs/tree/label_reproduce
• Public site URL: https://docs.dogutech.io
• Docusaurus version used: 2.4.1
• Environment name and version (e.g. Chrome 89, Node.js 16.4): Node.js 16.16.0
• Operating system and version (e.g. Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS): macOS Ventura 13.13.1 (a)

Self-service

• I'd be willing to fix this bug myself.

[Lorde627]

I got the same problem here; I don't know if this is a bug or if the _category_.yml is not working here at the start.

[Josh-Cena]

Hi! I18n does not use _category_ files, because that allows localized sites to have different sidebar structures which we don't want. If you want to translate the label, use yarn write-translations, and the sidebar labels should be generated in JSON.

[slorber]

@Josh-Cena another person reported the same problem here: #8986

I think we can re-open and try to figure out how we can improve the UX/DX on this specific case to make the behavior more intuitive.

We already allow to partially translate front matter (SEO description etc) so I guess it could make sense to also allow partial translation of the _category_.yml file? 🤷‍♂️