Re: Designing a Global Site

Robert,

There are sites with helpful information and some attempts at
guidelines, but I haven't found a comprehensive list of prescriptive
guidelines. 

Your comment about flags is true (they are poor indicators of language)
and the point is made in several places.

However, differences in culture is a broad subject, so creating a
complete list is a monumental task...

I have a page that lists resources fwiw:
http://www.i18nguy.com/guidelines.html

tex


"Marlin, Robert (by way of Martin Duerst )" wrote:
> 
> My name is Robert Marlin and I am an Interactive Information Architect for
> Qwest Global Services.
> 
> I was assigned a project to research common rules/guidelines for developing
> truly international sites because many of our large clients are
> establishing a global presence and want to design them properly.
> 
> I have checked many sites and have come up empty. Is that because there are
> no real guidelines set down yet? Or are they just hard to find.
> 
> For example, I see many sites use flags to represent languages. I don't
> feel that is appropriate, since how do you represent Spanish (Spain's flag,
> Mexico's flag, Puerto Rico's flag, Brazil, etc.?) Whichever flag you
> choose, you alienate the others. Flags are great for representing addresses
> (office locations, etc.) - but not languages.
> 
> What things are offensive to other cultures around the world - and should
> be avoided?
> 
> Even basic questions like -
> 
> Do people in other countries prefer pulldowns? Do they prefer nav buttons
> or do they use the search first?
> 
> Any information you can point me to (any source that would list issues and
> solutions or "things to think about" when designing International sites,
> etc.) would be GREATLY appreciated.
> 
> Thanks for your time.
> 
> Robert Marlin
> 
> Experience Architect
> 
> Qwest Global Services
> 
> 425 Technology Drive
> 
> Malvern, PA 19355

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------
Tex Texin                    Director, International Business
mailto:Texin@Progress.com    the Progress Company
Tel: +1-781-280-4271         http://www.progress.com
-------------------------------------------------------------
"The world writes in my database!" Progress Exchange 2002
http://www.progress.com/exchange/labs.htm#globalization
Globalization Empowerment for Progress users
http://www.progress.com/consulting/globalization_empowerment_solutions.htm
A compelling demonstration for Unicode:
http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode/unicode-example-intro.html

Received on Thursday, 18 April 2002 03:07:14 UTC