Creating bilingual/multilingual Primary Links: instructions

Last week on a different installation of i18n and Drupal 5.0, I followed the instructions here http://drupal.org/node/83514 to get the Primary Links to switch languages when the visitor switches the language of the website. It seems to have worked.

(At least, I think it worked. According to my own message at that thread, I claim it didn't work for me. But that is because I think I was looking at the menu from an Administer screen -- and not from a regular page. I have come to realize that you must always view the navigation blocks from a regular page. Otherwise, you will (always?) see *both* languages in the Primary Links navigation bar.)

However, through trial and error I think I have discovered another way to accomplish the same thing -- but without adding stuff to /sites/default/settings.php. If someone has already posted these, I'm sorry. I didn't see detailed instructions like this. Also, I'm posting them in case I've done something horribly wrong that will have unforseen (to me) effects on my Drupal website.

Here are my instructions for how to create bilingual Primary Links (in English and French):

1. From any English page, click Create content
2. Click Page (or Story, whatever)
3. In Title box, enter About
4. In Multilingual settings, make sure English is selected
5. Enter Body text (optional for the purposes of this demo)
6. In Menu settings -- Title box, enter AboutAbout (I chose to write it this way temporarily... you'll see why after)
7. In Parent items, select Primary links
8. Leave the other options alone and click Submit

In my example, a page was created and has the url en/node/19 and AboutAbout is now displayed on my Primary Links. Okay, now let's add the French text.

9. From the English page, click Translation

The page url should now be: en/node/19/translation

10. Click Francais in your sidebar Languages section (or whatever is the name of your second language link)

The page url should be: fr/node/19/translation

11. Click Create translation
12. Enter new (French) text in Title and Body fields
13. In Menu settings (which may be called something else because we're looking at the French UI), enter AproposApropos (which is French for AboutAbout)
14. In Parent items (or Element parent), select Primary Links
15. Press Submit (or Soumettre)

A new page with the URL fr/node/20 has been created. If you click on a random content page in your sidebar, you'll see the English or French navigation (Primary Links) listed. You'll note that both AboutAbout and AproposApropos appear when viewing the English version of the site or the French. Let's fix that.

16. From any English content page on the site, click AboutAbout
17. Click Edit
18. In Menu settings, click edit the advanced settings
19. In Language, select English
20. In Title, change it to About
21. Click Submit

If you click on a random (English) content page in your sidebar, you'll note that AboutAbout has been replace in the Primary Links by About. But the French text AproposApropos is still there. For fun, click the Francais button to switch the content of your random page to the French version. You'll note that the AboutAbout (or About) has disappeared. Perfect. Now let's repeat the last few steps, but on the French page AproposApropos.

22. On any French content page, click AproposApropos from the Primary Links
23. Click Edit
24. In Menu settings (or Parametres du menu), click edit the advanced settings
25. In Language (or Langue), select French
26. In Title, change it to Apropos
27. Click Submit (or Soumettre)

Click on any random content page and switch from English to French. You will see that the Primary Links change fron English to French perfectly.

I'm looking for feedback on whether these steps are good or not. They work. But maybe there's an easier way make Primary Links bilingual.

- Thumper