IDN domain names are coming


Domain Names : IDN domain names are coming	Homepage \| Add to Favorites

Recommended Sites

Related Links

Informative Articles

Choosing Domain Names for Your Business
Let's say that you're creating a website for Barb's Specialty Pet Products. Should the domain name be barbsspecialtypetproducts.com? Perhaps -- but don't stop there. Having the right domain name, or domain names, can bring more traffic to...

Domain Name Appraisals - Money Well Spent or Money Wasted?
Websites offering domain name appraisals are increasingly common, but are all services equal? And is the result actually worth the expenditure? === Why Get a Domain Name Appraised? === You'll fall into one of two categories - either...

Earn Money With Parked Domain Names
Do you have domain names that you aren't using? Did you know that these domains can actually be a source of revenue for your online business? There are several companies on the internet that will pay you to redirect your domain to a landing...

How to Choose a Good Domain Name.
In the E-World your domain name is your first assessment of what your site is about. It's not just your site name but it is the first criterion of your success on the Internet and when it comes to a point of success you must hold it tight. It...

Useful Information on Registering Domain Names
Registering a domain name has become a very simple, common procedure. People all over the world from all kind of different countries register domain names for different purposes. So if you are also interested in registering a domain name, there...

IDN domain names are coming

If you have never heard of IDN domain names, you likely soon will. This is because the most used and popular internet browser in the world, Internet Explorer (IE7), is set to begin resolving them by default. This means people from all over the world will finally be able to communicate websites, domain names and urls in their native languages. Many people feel this will mark a turning point in internet history. But just what is IDN and why are they so important?

IDNs are domain names that are written in foreign languages like Chinese, Japanese or Russian. IDN stands for Internationalized Domain Name. Most domain names that people are familiar with are written using the latin/english 26 character alphabet (or numbers), in an encoding called ASCII. This is because the internet was designed from the beginning to work using ASCII. IDN allows for the use of non ASCII characters in domain names.

IDN presently acheives this by using what is known as Unicode, a foreign language encoding, to display the foreign language domain. The IDN can be converted by the browser via a number of algorithms to what is known as Punycode, which is an ASCII version of the IDN, which can easily resolve with the current internet system. Punycode domains can be identified by their "xn--" beginning. The web browser performs the conversions and resolves the domain name into the correct Unicode language.

Up until now, only a few browsers could/would support IDNs. There have also been issues with IDNs regarding security and what is known as IDN spoofing and homograph attacks, where similar looking characters could be used to create look alike domain names. But with IE7 on board, and developing security refinements, the world moves closer to global IDN resolution. With IDN, people all over the world will be able to type domain names in their languages. Businesses will be able to advertise their sites in the correct language. The internet will begin to realize its promise as a truly global, international and diverse medium. Read more about IDN domain names.

About the author:

Visit IDNers.com for more information about IDN Domains.