When you create your own website, if you want people from all over the world to access it, then you must build it in accordance with the latest norms of Internationalization. The World Wide Web was never intended to be used by only a few nations; it targets humankind as a whole. However, website owners can easily overlook those people who come from a different culture than their own. By building websites that support only specific languages and writing systems, countless people are prevented access. This affects not only users, who must limit themselves to those websites they understand, but also website owners who brush aside growth opportunities.

Internationalization – Basics
To internationalize a website means to design it so that it will be accessible or adaptable to users from other cultures that speak certain languages and use a different writing system. Internationalization is frequently shortened to “i18n” (there are eighteen letters between i and n).

As more and more people have access to the Internet, and especially in developing countries, Internationalization is becoming increasingly important for the online community. But while it has a major impact on websites in particular, it is by no means restricted to them. Applications that are distributed online and that use localization also rely on it.

What it consists of?
Internationalization comprises of a multitude of accessibility elements to which new additions are constantly made. The fundamental elements are the following:

– Text Technology
An essential Internationalization aspect to take into account when you create your own website for a diverse audience is the text technology behind it, which must support as many of the writing systems used on the planet as possible. Most of the text technologies that offer a wide support for writing systems are created with Unicode, the universal character set. However, sometimes Unicode is not sufficient and additional support for certain legacy character sets is needed.

When creating a free website based on Internationalization conventions other aspects regarding character usage must be carefully considered as well. Certain writing systems such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean ask for special support. All these languages can be written vertically, in contrast with Western writing systems. Because of this, you should make sure that XSL-FO, CSS, and SVG will support vertical writing. The alignment of texts in these languages, and in others, such as Thai or Tibetan, is also done differently. Various other typographic norms apply for these writing systems, which include, among others, annotations and emphasis.

Indo-Iranian languages such as Urdu and Persian combine writing from left-to-right and right-to-left on the same line. If a website does not allow for direction control in content then these writing systems will not be supported and some users will be estranged. This can be avoided by ensuring that formats will be compatible with these systems.

– Data Formatting
Another important aspect of Internationalization is data formatting. Your HTML (hypertext mark-up language) forms relating to the names of your users are only one of the issues you must look into. In addition, it is important to remember that people in some parts of the world are used to different calendars and have particular conventions when it comes to writing addresses. Different time zones also need to be fully supported.

– Cultural issues
Once you build a free website online you must ensure that the content management system you plan to use is well adapted culturally and linguistically. Some languages, such as Japanese, use a different sentence structure than English. The content management system you use should allow you to combine the translated parts into a different order, to meet the structure requirements of the other language.

– Symbolism
Interpreted different from culture to culture, symbolism must also be considered as an essential aspect of Internationalization. For example, while in many Western countries the check mark signifies correct, in Japan the most widely used symbol for OK is a circle. If these minor issues are not looked into, then misunderstandings might arise.

Nowadays, when you create your own website you must use Internationalization to make it as user-friendly as possible. Only in this way you will be able to get visitors from all over the world and keep them returning. To achieve this, do all you can to make the fundamental design of your website as flexible as possible, so it can be easily adapted to new writing systems.

Author Bio: Maria Wixman Free web design I have been in the online marketing industry for over two years and love all things related to e-marketing, writing for the web, SEO and SEM. I\’ve been working for a large company that specializes in web design, and love how dynamic this field is.

Category: Internet
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