Fonts in the cloud: Finding the most multilingual solution
For years, web designers have been restricted to a paltry range of fonts. It’s not that operating systems don’t support many fonts. They do. It’s just that web sites must …
Web Globalization
The decline of foreign markets and the rise of local markets
An article in The Wall Street Journal talks about the American “two track” economy — in which US companies that sell globally are doing much better than those focused only …
Philips CEO on expanding globally
Last week I said I’d love to see more profiles of global-minded business execs and, sure enough, the Journal delivers. Here’s an interview with the Philips Electronics CEO Gerard Kleisterlee. According …
Hotels.com and its global growth spurt
In the 2008 Web Globalization Report Card, Hotels.com ranked close to last place in the web services category. In this year’s Report Card, Hotels.com ranked only behind Google and Wikipedia …
Best global retail web site: IKEA
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted findings from the 2010 Web Globalization Report Card, but I did want to include a brief note on the retail sector. We define this industry …
Interview: The Globalization of an Auctioneer Web Site
Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, the world’s largest auctioneer of heavy equipment and trucks, recently launched a redesigned (and more global) web site. Auction web sites are much like ecommerce web sites — that …
Speaking in Tongues: What’s the most multilingual religion web site?
Awhile back, Anirvan Chatterjee, founder of BookFinder. emailed me to ask if I knew of any other religion web site that supported more languages than the site of the Jehovah’s …
Twittering in Tongues: How companies are going global with Twitter
Over the past six months, Twitter went from mostly serving people based inside the US to mostly serving people based outside of the US. Today, 60% of Twitter’s 105 million registered …
The Swiss Air global gateway: When one flag isn’t enough
When it comes to web globalization and, in particular, global navigation, the general rule about flags is to avoid using them. By avoiding them, you avoid stepping into any number …
United vs. Continental: Which is the better global web site?
When I read about the announced merger between United Airlines and Continental, I began wondering which web site would win out over the other. As of now, there is a …
Free webinar: Secrets of the Best Global Websites
I’m pleased to be speaking on a topic near and dear to my heart — the best practices of global websites. Lionbridge is hosting the webinar and attendance is free. …
Air France wants to be liked — in English or French
Since I’m on the topic of Facebook and its “like” button, I just received an email from Air France that linked to, what else, an Air France Facebook page: www.facebook.com/airfrancemusic …
Deloitte.com: The best global professional services website
We included nine professional services websites in the 2010 Web Globalization Report Card. The Web Globalization Report Card is an annual benchmark of how effectively companies internationalize and localize their websites …
eBay’s improved global gateway needs more improving
eBay has invested significantly in web localization over the years and it is a top-20 website in countries such as France, Italy, and the UK (Alexa). But it could do …
ICANN approves IDNs for China, Taiwan, Thailand, Sri Lanka…
A few weeks back I asked Where is China’s IDN? ICANN not only answered my question about China, but also about a host of additional countries (and territory) that had …