Global by Design

I recently came across a chart of the most popular domain extensions, compiled by Stephane Van Gelder. Although I keep track of ccTLD registrations for the Country Codes of the World map, Stephane tracks all domains, including .com, .net., etc. And when I saw it I got to thinking…

Here’s a screen grab of the figures I want to focus on:

What makes this chart so interesting are the growth rates — .com is growing at 5% and .cn is growing at 18%. Granted, it’s easier to grow at 18% when you’ve only got 12 million registrations, compared with growing at 5% when you’ve got 76 million registrations.

But growth is growth and .cn is clearly on a roll.

And China has a lot of headroom for growth in terms of Web users and potential domain registrants. I am confident that .cn will reach 50 million registrations over the next 3 years.

At about that point in time, .com should be around 100 million registrants — in no danger of losing its number one status.

However, if the rate of growth of .com registrations were to decrease while .cn rate of growth continues to increase, it’s reasonable to wonder if we will one day see the number of .cn registrations surpass .com registrations?

I realize this is a far-fetched scenario.

After all, it’s reasonable to assume that companies that register .cn may also register .com — and the majority do just that.

But it’s certainly something to contemplate. And even if .cn never comes close to surpassing .com, the overall point I’d like to emphasize here is that .cn is now the world’s second most popular domain extention — and likely to remain that way for many years.

What do you think?

• .AU reaches one million registrations
• .CN: From 2 million to 10 million in 12 months
• .SU: The domain that refuses to die
• Poland joins the million domain club
• One million .CN registrations in just one month

Web form usability expert Luke Wroblewski provides a very handy article on the challenges of developing Web input forms that work in various countries.

Data input and output is where Web localization projects often sink or swim. And Web forms can give a global marketing director night sweats.

Luke stresses that if you can identify the user’s country before presenting the form, you’re in much better shape, because you can then provide a fully localized form. And this is why global navigation is so incredibly important to successful Web localization. If you can help your customer find his or her country Web site right from the start, everything else gets so much easier (for you and your customer).

Here’s the article.

• Global Gateway Tip: Don’t Play Favorites
• Taking Customer Service Global (via Charleston)
• The iPhone App localization opportunity
• Google perpetuates the American .com myth
• .eu Off to a Strong Start

I’m a pack rat and I’m trying to rid myself of the habit.

But it was interesting to come across this copy of Newsweek magazine from 1979:

• Newsweek Localization: Sometimes The Truth Hurts
• CMO Magazine: Lost in Translation
• Will The Economist Become Too American?
• Tips for Creating Bilingual Software and Web Sites
• Web Globalization Best Practices White Paper

A commenter on my post on the stunning lack of languages on the Olympics Web site (particularly when compared with Euro 2008) notes that two more languages were added recently: Spanish and Arabic.

Here are before and after shots of the language gateway.

August 6th:

August 14th:

What I find interesting is that these two languages were either added right when the Olympics began or possibly even a few days later.

• iGoogle: Now in 42 Languages
• Two thoughts on Euro 2008 and Web globalization
• Language Weaver adds language pairs
• World Bank Adds Arabic Web Site (Finally)
• AT&T: Going Global Awkwardly

It’s not much, but it’s a start. Basically, Google says you don’t necessarily have to register a country code for each country Web site (though it certainly helps). But if you can’t get a ccTLD, at least be sure to let Google know (via Webmaster Tools) how your country subdomains are organized so Google can effectively spider them.

I remain a big proponent of using ccTLDs. After all, Google is not the leading search engine in all countries, particularly China and Russia.

I’d love to see Google do more in helping Webmasters understand how to manage content across multiple country Web sites. There is great concern over hosting duplicate content (which Google penalizes) and continued questions about managing multiple languages within a specific country.

(thx to my brother for the heads up on this post)

• Google and the Global Traveler
• Google perpetuates the American .com myth
• Of Flags and Languages: A Live 8 Case Study
• Why Is Web Globalization So Popular? Just Look at the Numbers…
• How Wikipedia Manages Multilingual Content Expectations

I read about a startup (via Techcrunch) recently called mloovi. The service leverages Google Translate to provide real-time translations of your blog feed. I’ve installed the widget over on the right and would love to know what people think.

My biggest concern is slow-loading Web pages. And, yes, I know the quality of the translation will leave plenty to be desired, but what I really like about the widget are the little RSS feed buttons. Just click the button and you can have translated feeds delivered to whatever feed reader you use.

What I don’t understand is the significance of the name “mloovi.” Am I missing something?

• Blogging in Tongues
• Successful Ecommerce in Four Seconds (or less)
• Google Translate is growing up
• Welsh Translation On The Fly
• Multilingual PR