New Plans Emerge from ICANN for non-Latin (Arabic, Chinese etc) domain names
Posted: Sunday, November 08, 2009
by Connor Davidson
The domain name regulator ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Name and Numbers) announced after a six day conference that they would allow non-Latin domain names. To give you an example of what is meant by "Non-Latin" we shall look close to home. Under the new plan (assuming Bruce and co do it) www.searchwarp.com would also be ثثث.قهأصحجثأعص.جسم or 瓦特瓦特瓦特峞以研究建華瓦特以研究陸炳Ø米. In the second domain, I don't know where the dots go, since I got help with the first and don't know any Chinese speakers to help with the second – but you get the idea.
I must say I'm already annoyed with the other domain: I'm sitting here writing the article and since Arabic is written backwards, from our perspective, Microsoft Word thinks I want to type backwards so I keep deleting it.
This will mark the greatest change in domain names since their creation. We are going from using A-Z, 1-9 and a few special characters that total no more than 100 characters to 100,000 characters.
The change would totally reinvent in internet over afternoon tea. It will, however, start with local codes like: .ru, .gr and .il. The normal domains like: .com, .net, .biz., .info, .org and so on will not see any changes just yet but there are plans for this in the future.
This is a fantastic idea and a huge step towards globalisation of the internet. The days where Europe and the US dominated the internet are no more. In recent times we have seen an influx of Arabs and Chinese onto the internet and thus we have to adjust. It's really not fair for those groups to have to use our system. I can assure you that if roles were reversed we, who use Latin domain names, would be the ones grumbling.
To summerise, the video below shows ICANN's plans in there own words.
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More commentsDon't some websites have an option button that when pressed translates the page into another language without foreign languages blatantly displayed inititally?Latin used to be the universal scientific language needed for medical students around the world.If one was an aspiring medical pupil,one was forced to learn latin, a language needed to access and research most abstracts.French and German came in as a second proficiency access language.I'm not talking about website translation the article is about domain names. I think you misunderstood the article.Thanks for the comment anyway.Domain names?! AHA!As a devoted and perennial computer technophobe and avid internet ignoramous it was easy for me to misunderstand.After reading your first sentence again(yawn) I realized my error.When I come out of my coma I shall reread the rest of the article more carefully.(teasing) :Paul
Very hard to follow. The different languages that you have in this article make it flow poorly.It is just SearchWarp (dot) com in two languages. I don't see how you can't follow that.Thanks for the comment.
This was a very well written article, but that is to be expected of you Connor.Keep it up!And this idea is brilliant, because the internet should be a place for everyone, and the change in domain names emphasises this.That's exacly it - internet for all.Thanks for the comment.
Hi Connor. Great article and is loaded with information. Thanks for writing and sharing this. Best to you. ~Nenita~Thanks for the comment.
Connor,I had no idea. What a great article! In my ignorance, I thought they could use a computer translation service.Thanks for sharing that with us. Also didn't know we could add video to our articles. Boy, does that open a whole new world for me. We could tiptoe through my tulips!If you want a video in your article you need to get the HTML code. IF you look on YouTube some videos have a "embedded" bit. If you copy and paste that you can get a video in your article.Thanks for the comment.Connor,I understand the embedded bit. I didn't know it was appropriate. Now I do and I thank you.Oh right.
Connor, Excellent! Very well-written and informative. It really is becoming a smaller world. Leads me to think about some of the biblical ramifications, but that's another story :-)PS - Your writing skills have improved since you first joined us, it is wonderful to see how you have grown and expanded. Kudos to you! Blessings, TeresaThanks. I read my first articles and think that they are rubbish. I try to improve on each article.Thanks for the comment.
I am not computer literate so I will have to do some more reading to get a better understanding for what you are talking about, however, when I read an article I like to comment so people are aware that they are appreciated for the articles they write, so I say thank you., Linda DI always like to respond to comments to show that their comments are appreciated too.Thanks for the comment.
Thanks for the artical.Thanks for the comment.
Will the existing Latin domain names change? Why throw the baby out with the bath water. If Arabic and Chinese users want domain names in their language, fine. However, why do Latin names need to change? Frankly, after our latest terrorist attack (yes it was a terrorist attack) in Texas coupled with the 9/11 terrorist receiving a full trial in New York as if he were an American citizen, I am not inclined to rally around "globalization" of the internet. It will probably just make it easier for terrorists to communicate with each other and attack the Western world.Thats a strange way to look at it. It should also be made clear that it will make no difference to us the latin domain names will not change.Thanks for the comment.
I think it should stay the same and should be not changed.Thanks for the comment.
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