Change the portal language and display theme

How-to guide Who can do this: Any signed-in portal user

Switch the portal between English and Vietnamese, choose a light or dark display, and open the menu on a phone or tablet.

Before you start#

Who can do it. Anyone signed in can change the language and the display. A visitor who is not signed in can change the language on the sign-in page; that choice stays in the browser and is not saved on an account.
Languages. The choices are English and Vietnamese. What each language does to dates, money and business words is on Language, dates and number formats.
Where. Both controls are in the header, described with the rest of the header in Portal layout and menu. The language control is also at the top corner of the sign-in page.
What is remembered. A language change while you are signed in is saved on your account, and later notifications stored for you are written in that language. The language on the screen is remembered in this browser. Signing in does not copy it off the account, and it does not copy a sign-in page choice onto the account. The light or dark choice is also remembered in this browser only, not on the account.

Steps#

Language#

In the header, click the language control. It shows a flag and En or Vi. On the sign-in page the same control sits in the top corner.
Click English or Vietnamese.
Wait for the page to reload. You come back to the same page in the language you chose.

Light or dark display#

In the header, find the display control. It has no text. A sun means the portal is light. A moon means it is dark.
Click that icon. The portal switches at once, and this browser keeps the choice.

Phone or tablet#

When the window is narrower than 1280 pixels, the side menu is not on the screen. Click the menu button at the left of the header (three horizontal lines, with no text label) to open it. Click the close icon, or click outside the menu, to put it away.
To search, click the magnifying glass in the header. Its name is Search pages. On a narrow screen that glass is the search entry; the side menu's Search pages… field is only on the wide-screen menu.

On a wide screen the header has a second button, also without a text label, that collapses the side menu to icons. The search row then becomes a magnifying glass as well.

What happens next#

The reloaded page, the menu and the messages use the language you chose. Dates and times follow that language. How dates, times and money are written is on Language, dates and number formats.
If you were signed in, the account stores the language. A notification stored for you after that is written in it, including when other people on the same event use a different language. A new-order alert sent to the phones at a merchant's store uses that merchant's country language instead, not each person's saved language. How a notification is delivered is on Notification channels and urgency.
If you have never chosen a language, those stored notifications use the platform's default language.
The screen does not load that saved language when you sign in. It uses the choice already in this browser, then the language the browser asks for, then the platform default. A change made on the sign-in page, before you are signed in, changes this browser and does not update an account.
Light or dark does not change the language, and it does not follow you to another browser. A browser that has never been switched stays light.

Rules and limits#

Rule	Detail
Languages	English and Vietnamese only. The closed control shows En or Vi.
Signed-in language change	Saved on the account, and used for later notifications stored for you.
Screen language	Remembered in this browser. Not loaded from the account at sign-in. If the browser has no saved choice, the portal uses the language the browser asks for, then the platform default.
Sign-in page, not signed in	Changes this browser only. Nothing is written on an account.
Never chosen	Stored notifications use the platform's default language.
New-order phone alert	The alert to phones at a merchant's store uses that merchant's country language, not each person's saved language.
Closed language control	Shows the flag and En or Vi, not the full name. The full names are in the list you open.
Display	Light or dark only. The icon shows the mode you are in: sun for light, moon for dark.
Where display is kept	This browser. Clearing the browser's saved site data, or using another browser, returns to light until you switch again.
Narrow screen	Below 1280 pixels the side menu is hidden behind the menu button, and header search is the magnifying glass named Search pages.

If something goes wrong#

Message or symptom	Cause	Fix
The page language changed, but a later notification is still in the other language	The change was made before you were signed in, so the account was not updated. Until you choose while signed in, stored notifications stay on the platform's default language if you have never chosen.	Sign in, open the language control, and choose English or Vietnamese again.
The portal is light again on another computer or after you cleared site data	Light and dark are kept in the browser, not on the account.	Click the sun or moon icon again on that browser.
You cannot find Search pages… on a phone	That label is on the wide-screen side menu. Below 1280 pixels the menu is off-screen, and the phone menu does not include the search field.	Click the magnifying glass in the header. Its name is Search pages.