What the heck is an IDN and why you should care
Here’s a new article I’ve written for UX Magazine on the emergence of internationalized domain names (IDNs). I view IDNs as an inevitable (albeit awkward) evolution of the Internet. And here are the …
John Yunker
The Death of the Global Manager
Great article by Julia Hanna of Harvard Business School in Working Knowledge: “Today, I would argue that you don’t put that qualifying adjective in front of manager—we all simply operate …
Without web localization, you’re just guessing
An interesting article by Alexandra Berzon of the WSJ regarding Hilton and Starwood hotels, which are offering menus and services tailored to Chinese travelers. This quote jumped out at me: After …
South Sudan needs a country code
So it’s official now. The Republic of South Sudan is a country. In case you’re curious what you have to do to become a country, here’s a brief list. The …
Consistency vs. creativity: In signage, in terminology, in life
What’s wrong with this sign? It seems to work just fine as far as I can tell. Whenever I see this sign in a store window, I know exactly what …
Going Global with JavaScript: Coming this Fall
JavaScript enables everything from simple online sign-up forms to complex web-based applications. But there is not much information out there on how to effectively internationalize and localize JavaScript code. Which …
While we’re saving paper, why not save time?
Perhaps you’ve received an email with this message in the footer: I’ve received plenty of these messages over the past few years. And I got to thinking that if we’re …
The top 10 country codes (and the fall of China)
Verisign published its quarterly industry brief a few weeks ago. In it, the guide includes the top 10 ccTLDs, reprinted below: There are now more than 81 million registered ccTLD domains, which comprise …
Making sense of internationalized domain names
Paul Sawers of The Next Web has written an in-depth article on the evolution of internationalized domain names (IDNs). It’s a great article for quickly getting up to speed on …
The Mr. Potato Head global gateway
I was happy to discover recently that a toy that I loved as a child — Mr. Potato Head — is still alive and well. Not only that, but Mr. …
India: One country, many IDNs
If you’re interested in learning more about IDNs, UNESCO and EURid recently released a report on the evolution and challenges of IDNs. It’s a good read and it highlights some …
3M: Many brands sharing one global gateway
3M finished in the top 10 of the 2011 Web Globalization Report Card. Its global gateway strategy is one reason why it scored so highly. But what’s particularly impressive about 3M …
Web design with the world in mind
I was interviewed recently by Paul Sawers of The Next Web. He wrote a great article about the challenges and opportunities of web internationalization. I recommend sending this link to …
Blogging in tongues: Focus on Forrester
Brian Walker, an analyst at Forrester, noticed recently that his blog post was seeing active retweets in a number of different languages. And yet the blog post itself was available …
Delta’s global gateway: When complexity kills
I’m always amazed when I come across global gateways that I find complicated in my native language. Like Delta Airline‘s global gateway. What you see here is not one but …