Re: Fwd: I'm still alive!

Hello Lloyd,

Thanks for forwarding these to the list. Great material!

Below some comments:

At 19:51 04/01/07 +0000, Lloyd Honomichl wrote:

>>Two FAQ's that I've had on my queue for a while:
>>
>>Can we send these out as plain text and worry about the content (I can do 
>>some editing)
>>before worrying about the formatting?
>>
>>
>><FAQ1>
>>Question: Do display capabilities of computers in other countries 
>>vary?  Do I need to worry about
>>screen sizes, number of colors, etc.?

The two main points I would add:
- display capabilities vary a lot these days because different people
   have computers with different-sized screens, but also because there
   are a lot of other devices (PDAs, cellphones,...). Although not all
   Web pages may need to work on cellphones, try to design with as few
   limitations as possible.
- There may not be that much of a difference between e.g. the US, Europe,
   and Japan, but e.g. in India or Africa, the situation may still be
   a bit different.


>>Background: In the past (until the 90's) customers outside the United 
>>States often had less
>>capable computer systems than those in the U.S.  It was common for other 
>>countries to lag
>>two to three years behind in getting the latest in personal computer 
>>technology.  This gap
>>has disappeared in recent years.
>>
>>Similarly, in older text mod operating systems it was common for the 
>>number of lines of text
>>on the screen varied.  For instance while most U.S. systems allowed 25 
>>lines of available
>>text on the screen, some Japanese systems had fewer, because the height 
>>of Japanese characters
>>is greater and some systems reserved one or two lines for a "Front End 
>>Processor" (the equivalent
>>of today's Input Method Editor.  Variations also existed between various 
>>vendors' systems
>>in Japan.
>>
>>Answer:  Today there is no need to make special allowances for hardware 
>>limitations in other
>>countries - BUT many similar considerations SHOULD be kept in mind for 
>>accessibility reasons.
>>For instance, the fact that virtually every monitor sold today can 
>>support millions of colors
>>doesn't make it possible for color blind users to distinguish all 
>>colors.  Check out the W3C
>>Web Accessibiity Inititive for more details.
>></FAQ1>



>><FAQ2>
>>Question: To what extent does my commerce web site need to handle foreign 
>>currencies?
>>
>>Answer: Though there are always exceptions most sites don't require any 
>>special effort to deal
>>with foreign currencies.  Dealing with multiple currencies raises a 
>>number of interesting
>>problems that may not be worth solving.
>>
>>Formatting numbers to match the currency formats used in various locales 
>>is fairly easy, but
>>flucuation in exchange rates causes problems that are not easily 
>>solved.  As an extreme example
>>imagine an auction site that allows each user to view prices in their own 
>>currency.  A user in
>>the U.S. lists an item for sale on Monday and asks that the bidding start 
>>at $10.00.  Later that
>>day a user in the U.K. views the item and is informed that the bidding 
>>starts at 5 pounds 62 pence.
>>(using that morning's exchange rate of 1.78).  Thinking its a reasonable 
>>price, she bids 6 pounds.
>>Later that day an user in German see the current high bid is 9.16 Euros 
>>and raises the bid to
>>10 Euros.  The next day the first user returns and decides the price is 
>>too high, so she finds
>>another similar item to purchase instead.  Wednesday the Pound surges 
>>against the Euro and as the
>>auction comes to a close th first bidder gets an email informing her that 
>>her bid of 6 pounds
>>has won and she should send her payment!

This is a very good example. Probably best to add a table, with columns
for each day, and lines for the bids, the conversion rates, and the conversion
results. This will make it easier to understand. Also, make the units on
the conversion rates explicit, e.g. "(using that morning's exchange rate
of 1.78 US$/British Pound)".


>>Most web sites are owned by a company and that company generally does 
>>business in a single currency.

Much too general. Many web sites are owned privately. Many companies
do business in several countries. I think I know what you want to say,
but there are several ways your text can be misunderstood.


>>Its generally safer to stick to that currency for all transactions.
>>EBay does allow auctions in
>>other currencies - but the all bids and prices for that item are in a 
>>SINGLE currency.

"the all bids and prices for that item" ->
"all the bids and prices for a single item"


>>If you decide to deal with multiple currencies you still need to decide 
>>how often to update your exchange rates
>>and who to rely on to supply them.

and back the up!


Regrads,    Martin.


>>If you've ever walked down the streets of a forign city
>>and seen the variation in exchange rates from one vendor to the next 
>>you'll realize there is no
>>single source for these rates.
>>
>>So we recommend that you just deal with a single currency.  If you want 
>>to display the value in
>>the user's currency, then at least display both currecies and make it 
>>clear that the price is based
>>on the primary currency and that the value in their currency is strictly 
>>for informational purposes.
>>
>></FAQ2>

Received on Friday, 9 January 2004 15:18:46 UTC