Internet users who don’t speak languages that are written using the Roman alphabet can now test web addresses in their native language.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers — which is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet’s system of unique identifiers, such as domain names — has created a test that allows users to visit web pages with URLs in 11 additional languages.

“This is one of the most exciting times yet in the development of IDNs,” said Dr. Paul Twomey, ICANN’s President and CEO. “Internet users who speak the 11 languages of the test can play a key role in testing how IDNs operate, and help us move toward full implementation for all the languages of the world.”

Internet users around the globe can now access wiki pages with the domain name example.test in the 11 test languages — Arabic, Persian, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Russian, Hindi, Greek, Korean, Yiddish, Japanese and Tamil. The wikis will allow Internet users to establish their own subpages with their own names in their own language — one suggestion is: example.test/yourname.

The wiki pages can be accessed by typing example.test in the characters of one of the 11 languages, or by going to http://idn.icann.org.

“These wikipages are key to the test. We want to know how the URL displays in the Internet browser, if it works when you cut and paste it into the body of an email to a friend, and how all of this impacts the root zone,” Dr. Twomey added.

The 11 evaluation wikis will remain online until IDNs are fully implemented and the first top-level domain is introduced in the evaluation language.

The full introduction of IDNs will mean that people can write the whole of a domain name in the characters used to write their own language. Presently you can only use these characters before the dot, so .com, .net, .org and the like can only be written in characters from basic Latin. IDNs will change this so literally tens of thousands of characters will be available to the world.

Entrepreneur.com has teamed up with Microsoft Office Live to publish the eBook “I Hate My Website!: 10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Website Plus 9 Disastrous Moves to Avoid.”

Here are the highlights:

• Have a basic plan. Before starting a Website, ask yourself these key questions: Who are my customers? What are they looking for? What are my competitors doing? What do I want to get out of this Web site?

• Keep it simple. Do not cram your Web site with features and information that may make it slow to load and difficult to read. If users cannot easily find what they are looking for, they will look elsewhere. Users will appreciate a fast-loading, informative and easy-to-use site.

• Pay attention to content. A Web site is one of the best ways for businesses to highlight themselves without any marketplace interference. While you can be creative with your Web site, make sure it includes some basic information such as About Us, Contact Us, Testimonials, News/Announcements and Media Coverage. These sections are your chance to promote your business’ strengths, core competencies and differentiating factors from the competition.

• Update frequently. Nobody likes going to a Website that has months-old information. If content is not updated, why would customers want to return? New content is easy to create through formats such as blogs, surveys and polls, and newsletters.

• Pay attention to the users. Tracking customers might seem difficult, but it is actually fairly easy. All Web-hosting companies should be able to provide free reports about site traffic. This data can show important trends, such as where site visitors are coming from, how long they stay on the site, and what your site’s most popular pages are. This information can then inform future revisions to your site.

• Attract users. Most search engines easily allow you to submit a Web site to their database so that the site will appear in search results. Look for the “Add URL” or “Submit your site” buttons. To make sure the site does not appear at the bottom of the results, focus on including as many relevant keywords and links as possible into the content of the site.

If you want to take your business to the next level, check out The Big Makeover, which promises to transform your company in just four days.

A new survey of U.S. home computer users shows that the replacement of PC software by websites has already spread far beyond early adopters in the U.S., with over a third of U.S. home computer owners using at least one web application to replace software that was previously installed on their PCs.

“Most industry observers talk about ‘Web 2.0′ applications as something that’s coming in the future, but our research showed that some web apps are already spreading rapidly through the PC user base,” said Rubicon Consulting’s Michael Mace. “Most computer users are very practical. They don’t care if a software program is installed on their computer or built into a website. If it solves their problems, they’ll use it. The barriers to adoption of web applications are very low.”

The Rubicon study comprised feedback from more than 2,000 U.S. home PC owners during the summer of 2007.

Online competitive intelligence company Hitwise announced Sept. 19 that Google accounted for 63.98 per cent of all US searches in the four weeks ending Sept. 1, 2007. Yahoo, MSN and Ask each received 22.87, 7.98 and 3.41 per cent respectively. The remaining 48 search engines in the Hitwise search engine analysis tool accounted for 1.68 per cent of U.S. searches. 

Google an increasing source of traffic to key industries

Search engines continue to be the primary way Internet users navigate to key industry categories.  Comparing August 2007 to August 2006, the travel, entertainment, and business and finance categories received double-digit increases in their share of traffic coming directly from search engines.

There’s been a lot of concern surrounding the Facebook code that found its way to the Web in August due to a web server error.

While it reportedly hasn’t caused any members’ personal information to be exposed, it is a reminder of potential vulnerability on social networks. They can be enticing targets for hackers and identity theft.

For that reason, it’s probably a good idea to think twice before posting sensitive information on sites like Facebook and MySpace.

Too many web designers seem to be stuck in the 90s.

Like glammed-up big hair bands of the past, they’re churning out more flash than substance.

Meanwhile, for more than a decade, Internet experts and users alike have been calling for simple, unobtrusive and accessible designs. It seems straightforward enough: a website that promotes productive and positive online experiences will form a fan base.

Yet, useless Flash intros, superfluous splash pages, confusing menus and difficult-to-detect scroll bars continue to be created. Plus, music — usually of the cheesy genre — is still making users frantically reach for the mute button at the office and home (during the wee hours, when the rest of the household is fast asleep). The list goes on.

 Read entire web design article…

Thousands of applications and millions of downloads are driving Facebook’s economy. Who’s behind it? Hackers.

Unlike MySpace, Facebook has opened up its network to developers, making it easy for them to make money from applications. A full list of third-party applications, designed to allow Facebook users interact with friends and networks, can be found in the official site’s application directory. They range from tools to compare people to applications that allow you to adopt virtual pets.

To witness this economy’s escalation, one only needs to stop by Adonomics (formerly Appaholics). The website, conceived by San Francisco-based programmer Jesse Farmer, provides stock-market-style analyses of Facebook features. Programmers can analyze the value of their applications in advertising dollars, and how it correlates to their applications’ growth.

Once a social networking site exclusively for college students, Facebook opened registration to the general public last year and attracted vast groups of visitors from outside the 18-24 year old age segment.  In fact, comScore reported last month the website grew to 26.6 million unique visitors in the U.S. in May 2007, marking an 89 per cent increase versus the same month last year.

Editor’s note: see Facebook security post

Internet users are consuming more web content but communicating less, reveals a four-year study by the Online Publishers Association (OPA).

The report, released Aug. 13, states Internet users are spending 47 per cent of their time online reading and watching content, compared with 34 per cent in 2003, representing a 37 per cent increase over four years.

The increase in the time spent on content has been steady; growing 10 per cent from 2003 to 2004, remaining even between 2004 and 2005, growing 13 per cent from 2005 to 2006, and growing 13 per cent from 2006 to 2007.

The organization also found Internet users are spending 33 per cent of their time online communicating, compared with 46 per cent in 2003, marking a 28 per cent decline over four years.

On the e-commerce side, Web users on average spend 16 per cent of their time shopping online versus 15 per cent in 2003.

Meanwhile, the total time being spent on search remains relatively low, accounting for just five per cent, compared to three per cent in 2003.

The OPA attributes the major shift from communications to content as a result of several factors:

• The online transition of traditionally offline activities, such as getting news, finding entertainment information or checking the weather.

• The popularity of online communities.

• A faster and more accessible Internet.

• The popularity of online videos.

• The improvements in search tools, which are helping online users find relevant content more easily.

• The significant increase of content available on the Web.

• The rise of instant messaging, which is more efficient than e-mail and has subsequently led to a reduction in time spent communicating.

Whether you agree with or dispute the notion “content is king,” the results from this study fortify the importance of content on the Web.

It also serves as a reminder that web types can collectively advance the state of the Web and by creating and fostering quality content.

As Web 2.0 pulls the rug out from under news distribution monopolies, its interactive element will likely tune in millions more online users.

Not only are more people using the Internet each year (currently 1.17 billion globally, up 225 per cent from 2000), people are naturally drawn by its increasingly interactive nature. The opportunity to participate, even if not acted on, is engaging in itself.

Indeed, Web 2.0 allows users to discuss and influence precisely what’s near and dear to their hearts.

Media giants and corporations have to respect this. All those minuscule voices abruptly gain volume on the Web, creating forces to be reckoned with. In fact, these ‘Web 2.0 packs’ produce so much weight, they can virtually sink a product or business in a matter of hours. They can also make them astoundingly successful.

CNET’s George Colony discusses in his blog how CEOs need to acknowledge Web 2.0’s transparency and recognize the new reality: “you don’t own your customer; your customer owns you.”

No doubt, in the new age of collaboration, consumers are no longer disengaged and forced to sit on the sidelines. Online communities are revolutionizing how media, business, management and government deal with the outside world. There’s more communication on a peer-to-peer level versus the traditional talk-down-to manner.

The most clever and alert organizations are catching on to the fact that Web 2.0 allows masses to pool resources and create value. Take Coca-Cola for instance. As highlighted by Richard MacManus, Coca-Cola’s Polish website fosters community involvement. It asks visitors, “What do you desire?” and encourages people to share goals and achievements.

Even IBM has warmed up to social networking, building tools to bring Web 2.0 and online communities into corporations.

As for news giants, they aren’t just telling people what to think anymore. They too have to partake in Web 2.0 to stay relevant. While increasing opportunities for feedback and viewpoints, they are establishing deeper roots with existing readers and expanding their reach.

YouTube and MySpace are currently leading the movement, but others will follow, and then take the lead. And, as more organizations get bitten by the Web 2.0 bug, more people will get infected and become engaged, curious and keen to charter unexplored territory.

There’s no denying, Web 2.0 is contagious.

The LA Times recently published an article, in which it compares Google to Osama bin Laden. It seems Google’s plans to let users comment on aggregated news has some editors and journalists edgy. But as long as they do their jobs and publish objective and complete articles, they have nothing to fear.

I wrote the following letter to the LA Times editor in response to the article:

Welcome to Web 2.0, LA Times, where consumers and the public at large get a say.

Surely, providing Google users forums to comment on news stories will result in some biased and uninformed viewpoints, but it’ll also keep editors and journalists on their toes.

For if you don’t do your job, and produce biased or incomplete articles, there will be a newly empowered body ready to call you on it.