In search of a better translation icon
A few years ago I wrote about the translation icon and its many variations at that point in time. I thought now would be a good time to revisit this icon. Let’s …
Microsoft
Web localization in the Year of the Sheep
I enjoying watching how Western companies localize their websites and products to capitalize on Chinese New Year — the Year of the Sheep (or Goat). Like this gift card from Starbucks …
Is your global gateway stuck in the basement?
When you welcome visitors into your home, you probably don’t usher them directly to the basement. Yet when it comes to websites, this is exactly how many companies treat visitors from around the …
You say Sea of Japan. I say East Sea.
Who said the life of a map maker isn’t interesting? Every other day it seems there is another disputed territory, which usually means another disputed name. I’ve already mentioned the …
Five tips for successful, global web surveys
It seems like everyone is running a web survey these days. While I appreciate the importance of asking your website visitors what they think, too many of these surveys are …
Microsoft Outlook now supports 32 country codes
Speaking of country codes, I’ve been meaning to mention this. Outlook.com (formerly Hotmail) now offers users an impressive range of country code domains. Here’s the full list of supported country …
The top 25 global websites from the 2013 Web Globalization Report Card
UPDATE: The 2017 Web Globalization Report Card is now available. I’m pleased to announce the top-scoring websites from the 2013 Web Globalization Report Card. This is the ninth annual edition …
Microsoft’s new web design — the bad and the good
Saw on Daring Fireball that Microsoft is previewing its new global website (link). Naturally, I wondered “Where the heck did the global gateway go?” It used to be in the …
Microsoft launches a new global gateway
I’m happy to see Microsoft launch a new global gateway on its home page. Here’s a detailed view: Notice how the country/region options are all nicely presented in the native languages. …
Bing cuts the clicks
Disclaimer: I work for Microsoft, so take this with a grain of salt. Since Bing launched I’ve been thinking a lot about search engines and how I use them. I’ve …
Microsoft Translation Widget: Moving MT one step closer to the Web page
I’m happy to see Microsoft Research launch this new Web site widget. I’ll have to test it out on my site when I get the time — and would love …
Google Translate adds languages; Microsoft adds translation widget
Google Translate recently added 11 languages to its impressive portfolio of supported languages. To give you an idea of just how aggressive Google has been in this area, here is …
Google is Microsoft
This comes via my brother via Blogoscoped — Google has made interesting use of the Iceland country code to create a URL that packs a narrative: Check out out here: …