[poojanagvekar]

Refs #317

Follow-up to #318.

Root cause: in production location.pathname includes the /makerspace prefix, so the language toggle built broken URLs like /fr-CA/makerspace/exercises/... (404).

• Header strips the path prefix before computing the switch target and active nav link.
• Switcher falls back to the nearest existing parent page when a translation doesn't exist (e.g. pt-BR Cutebot, fr robotics E1–E7) instead of 404.
• 404 page redirects malformed locale/prefix URLs to the correct page.
• Unit tests added in i18n/index.spec.js; README updated.

The content.js ... unload console warning comes from a browser extension, not the site.

Not run locally (no node in this environment); please rely on CI.

Related to #317 (French Cutebot pages / language links).

[Copilot]

🟡 Changes recommended

The route-existence set uses raw MDX slugs instead of generated home-page routes, causing valid repaired URLs such as /fr-CA/ to remain on the 404 page.

1 open issue

• Map localized home routes to generated paths · New

What changed in this PR

This PR fixes language switching under the production /makerspace prefix and improves navigation when translated content is unavailable.

Changes:

• Strip the deployment prefix before computing language-switch targets and active navigation links.
• Add parent-page fallback for missing translations and 404 recovery for malformed locale URLs.
• Add helper tests, document routing behavior, and link French Cutebot content.

File	Description
site/​src/​pages/​404.js	Adds malformed URL repair and redirect handling.
site/​src/​i18n/​index.spec.js	Tests prefix stripping, translation fallback, and URL repair.
site/​src/​i18n/​index.js	Adds path normalization, fallback, and repair helpers.
site/​src/​components/​header.jsx	Uses prefix-aware navigation and translation fallback.
site/​README.md	Documents routing behavior and the browser-extension warning.
site/​content/​fr-CA/​exercises/​index.mdx	Adds a direct link to French Cutebot content.

_{Review effort: Balanced}