Arabic mp3 music

Going Global

For success on the Web, thinking big just isn't enough: You've got to think global. Sure, Americans love the Internet, but so do people all over the world. Indeed, by 2004, half of all online sales will be made outside the U.S., according to Forrester Research. Savvy e-tailers like Amazon.com have already crossed the pond. You'll find their wares in several languages on sister sites aimed at specific geographical markets. Whether you want to sell some goods of your own or simply share your Xena appreciation page with a grateful world, taking your site global is something you'll want to consider. But before you begin, you'll need to tackle important design, technical, and cultural issues. Fortunately, the following sites speak your language.

Universal Translators

Step one in creating a global site is making sure international visitors can read your content. You'll probably need some help converting English-based content into other languages. On-the-fly translation tools are available at AltaVista (http://babel.altavista.com/translate.dyn) and Go.com (http://translator.go.com). These sites are best for translating a phrase here and there between English and half a dozen other languages, not for converting whole sites.

For heavy-duty needs, or for help in a less-common language (say, Afrikaans or Cambodian), head to a professional. The American Translators Association (www.americantranslators.org/tsd_listings) offers a database of over 3,800 translators and interpreters. You can specify the language, as well as area of expertise, such as medicine or electronics. For each match, the site gives you contact and other professional information. To cover more ground, head to eTranslate (www.etranslate.net). It features "Glenn's Guide to Translation Agencies," which has the scoop on 350 U.S.-based and 80 international services.

A Lode of Code

Creating a multilingual Web site is a great way to grab a global audience. The latest version of HTML has tags to handle bidirectional text (necessary for Arabic and Hebrew), and support for the Unicode Standard, which means that about every character necessary for every language can be incorporated into a single document. (XML supports Unicode, too.) If you still want to bone up on the technical nitty-gritty, a good primer can be found at the Babel site (http://babel.alis.com). You can learn more about Unicode and find character code tables for different languages at the UniCode Consortium's site (www.unicode.com).

Encoding is just one issue the globetrotting Web designer needs to consider. Often, translated words literally become bigger. This means elements like dialog boxes and buttons must be dynamically resizable, so translated words fit properly. This is just one concept covered in an excellent Microsoft white paper, "Designing a Global and Localized Web Site," by Sjoert Ebben and Gwyneth Marshall (www.microsoft.com/technet/Analpln/globloc2.asp).

Rolling Out the Site

Whether you build one multilingual site or separate sites in different languages, you'll want to be listed in all the major Web directories. But the best directories also have localized sites, and being listed on these satellite directories can boost your visibility in far-off places. Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com) has directories for some 24 countries. On each of these, sites of interest to local users are highlighted. Excite (www.excite.com) also has a global presence, with directories based in Australia, China, and other nations.

Another consideration is your URL. Although sites in any language can be registered in the general .com domain, you might want to register in the appropriate country-specific domains, too. That way, if your site is www.bigidea.com, you don't have to worry about someone else registering www.bigidea.fr and wooing away your French-language customers. Registries exist in 192 countries, and each has its own rules and application procedures.

Network Solutions' idNames service (www.idnames.com) simplifies matters in the 53 countries that are unrestricted (meaning, nearly anyone from anywhere can register, without a local presence). For no fee, it will tell you which countries your name of choice is available in; for $199 per year, it will process your application with the local registry and handle renewals, saving you some grief, if not money.

Avoiding Pitfalls

Finally, you'll also want to be sure all your paperwork is in order if you send goods overseas. FedEx (www.fedex.com) offers an interactive Global Trade Manager that quizzes you on the nature of your shipment and tells you what documents you'll need. You can even print out the forms from the site. While you're waiting, check out FedEx's International Resource Center, which provides access to the latest customs regulations and foreign currency rates. So you can translate those francs and yen as well as you translated your words.

First Looks Products Reviewed

Apple Power Mac G4 www.apple.com

ATI Radeon ATI Technologies Inc. www.ati.com

AutoCAD 2000i www.autodesk.com

Casio Cassiopeia EM-500 www.casio.com

Dell Inspiron 5000e www.dell.com

DenebaCAD 2.0.2 www.deneba.com

Hi-Stats Log Analysis Solution Enterprise Edition www.hisoftware.com

HP OmniBook 6000 www.hp.com

IBM Thinkpad T21 www.ibm.com

iSpace 1.0 www.caligari.com

L&H Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred 5.0 www.lhsl.com

Microsoft Picture It! Publishing Platinum 2001 www.pictureit.msn.com

Minolta Dimage Scan Multi II www.minoltausa.com

netViz 3D www.netviz.com

Olympus Camedia C-211Zoom Digital Printing Camera www.olympus.com

WebInteract www.webdialogs.com

WinBook Si2 www.winbook.com

ZoneAlarm Pro www.zonelabs.com

Pipeline AT&T Labs www.uk.research.att.com

Boeing Co. www.boeing.com

Elumens Corp. www.elumens.com

GeePS www.geeps.com

Hitachi Ltd. www.hitachi.com

Intel Corp. www.intel.com

Macromedia Inc. www.macromedia.com

Microsoft Corp. www.microsoft.com

Nintendo of America Inc. www.nintendo.com

Oracle Corp. www.oracle.com

Sony Electronics Inc. www.sony.com

Spotcast Communications www.spotcastnetwork.com

Tenzing Communications Inc. www.tenzing.com

Y Media www.y-media.com

E-store Solutions Products Reviewed

bCentral www.bcentral.com

Bigstep.com www.bigstep.com

eCongo powered commerce www.econgo.com

eStoreManager www.estoremanager.com

FreeMerchant www.freemerchant.com

GoBizGo www.gobizgo.com

HyperMart www.hypermart.com

Web Store www.icat.com

Yahoo! Store http://store.yahoo.com

Microsoft Commerce Server 2000 www.microsoft.com

WebSphere Commerce Suite www.ibm.com

OpenSales AllCommerce www.opensales.com

Hot Links

ecommerce-guide.com ecommerce.internet.com eLab www.elabweb.com eMarketer www.emarketer.com

Paypal.com www.paypal.com

Stamps.com www.stamps.com

The Return Exchange www.thereturnexchange.com

U.S. Small Business Administration www.sba.gov

The Disposable PC? Products Reviewed

Compaq iPAQ Legacy-Free www.compaq.com

Dell OptiPlex GX100 www.dell.com

Gateway E-1400 www.gateway.com

HP e-pc www.hp.com

IBM NetVista S40 www.ibm.com

NEC PowerMate ES SlimLine www.nec.com

Hotlinks These links will help you determine the usefulness of legacy-free and legacy-reduced PCs in your workplace.

ACM TechNews www.acm.org/technews/articles/ 2000-2/0602f.html#item13

Computer.com www.computer.com/learn/learn_ comp_app_whatis.html

NEC Data Sheet www.neccomp.com/images/pdfs/ ES_SlimLine.pdf

Browser Add-Ons Products Reviewed

Afreet Site Viewer www.netvampire.com/siteview

AI Roboform www.roboform.com

Alexa Internet www.alexa.com

Clickthebutton www.clickthebutton.com

Copernic 2000 www.copernic.com

Firetalk www.firetalk.com

flyswat www.flyswat.com

GuruNet www.gurunet.com

Hotbar www.hotbar.com

iChoose www.ichoose.com

iHarvest www.iharvest.com

iMarkup www.imarkup.com

nano www.nano.com

NeoPlanet www.neoplanet.com

netXtract www.netxtract.com

Octopus www.octopus.com

OnePage www.onepage.com

Quiver www.quiver.com

Snippets www.snippets.com

SurfSaver www.surfsaver.com

ThirdVoice 2000 www.thirdvoice.com

TweakIE www.tweakie.com

uWare www.uware.com

WebCheck www.webtop.com

Websplit www.websplit.com

Web-TalkIt www.groverind.com

WebWasher www.webwasher.com

Yahoo! Companion www.yahoo.com/config/download_companion

Yodlee www.yodlee.com

Personal Digital Audio Products Reviewed

Aiwa CDC-MP3 www.aiwa.com

AudioRamp iRad-S www.audioramp.com

Creative Nomad Jukebox www.creative.com

DigMedia MusicStore www.dig-music.com

Ericsson Portable Handsfree MP3 Player www.ericsson.com

Genica MP3/Audio CD Player www.compgeeks.com

Kenwood Z919 www.kenwoodusa.com

Kerbango Radio www.kerbango.com

Lansonic DAS-750 www.lansonic.com

Lydstrom SongBank SL www.lydstrom.com

netDrives Brujo www.netdrives.com

Remote Solution Personal Jukebox PJ-100 www.pjbox.com

ReQuest Multimedia ARQ1 www.request.com

Rockford Fosgate RFXMP3.8 www.rockford-fosgate.com

SigTech Stereo-Link 1200 www.stereo-link.com

Sima IM-422EX www.simacorp.com

S3 Rio Digital Audio Receiver www.riohome.com

Yamaha RP-U100 www.yamaha.com