[Foundation-l] Font support for our domains

[Gerard Meijssen]

Hoi,
The BBC article I referred to explained the benefits; the usability is much
improved. It is nasty to have to switch to another keyboard whenever a URL
is to be typed. When you consider that half the world population does not
use the Latin script for their language, the benefit should be obvious. The
expense consists of one domain per script.. So let us be generous and have
20 scripts to support, it means that we need active domains only for those
domains that we have an active project in. While this is a recurring cost,
it is not a significant one and, it is one that improves our usability
demonstrably.

Currently it is possible to have the domain partly in other scripts. The
benefits are debatable because you still need to end these with the .net
.org .com whatever suffix in the Latin script. With the new script support,
the full URL can be fully in Unicode supported scripts.
Thanks,
      GerardM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8333209.stm

2009/10/31 Samuel Klein <meta.sj at gmail.com>

> I see.  So you'd like to see double the number of site registrations; in
> this case adding
>  维基百科.o?r?g?   to  zh.wikipedia.org
>
> That strikes me as a significant expense for uncertain result; but it would
> make a good strategy proposal -- especially if you can find users from ar,
> zh, ru, and indic-language communities to weigh in on how often they visit
> non-latin-script url's today.  [presumably someone who really prefers using
> non-latin scripts would be visiting sites today whose full url, other than
> the TLD code, was in a non-latin script.]
>
> SJ
>
>
> On Sat, Oct 31, 2009 at 2:27 AM, Gerard Meijssen
> <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > Hoi,
> > In your question the key thing to appreciate is that it is the .org part
> > that does not need to be in the Latin script any more.  What I propose is
> > that we support the whole "wikipedia.org" part and "wiktionary.org" part
> > once in each script.
> >
> > What the word is for Wikipedia is not my call. This is either obvious or
> a
> > choice is to be made.  We will gain a lot in usability when our whole
> > experience can be wholly in the one script that is most comfortable to
> the
> > user. It is relevant to note that the language codes we use in front of "
> > wikipedia.org" need to be transcribed.
> > Thanks,
> >       GerardM
> >
> > 2009/10/31 Samuel Klein <meta.sj at gmail.com>
> >
> > > Gerard,
> > >
> > > I don't think we currently register wikipedia.cn or
> > > 维基百科.cn <http://xn--3js032e7ich4g.cn> <http://xn--3js032e7ich4g.cn> <
> http://xn--3js032e7ich4g.cn
> > ><http://
> > > %e7%bb%b4%e5%9f%ba%e7%99%be%e7%a7%91.org/>or
> > > 维基百科.org <http://xn--3js032e7ich4g.org> <http://xn--3js032e7ich4g.org>
> <http://xn--3js032e7ich4g.org>
> > <http://
> > > %e7%bb%b4%e5%9f%ba%e7%99%be%e7%a7%91.org/>.  When the new
> > > ICANN policies are in place, as I understand it, there will be four new
> > > domains possible: wikipedia.c?n?, wikipedia.o?r?g?,
> > > 维基百科.c?n?<http://%e7%bb%b4%e5%9f%ba%e7%99%be%e7%a7%91.org/>and
> > > 维基百科.o?r?g? <http://%e7%bb%b4%e5%9f%ba%e7%99%be%e7%a7%91.org/>...
> which
> > of
> > > these are you suggesting using?
> > >
> > > SJ
> > >
> > >
> > > On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 7:49 AM, Gerard Meijssen
> > > <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com>wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hoi,
> > > > According to an article on the BBC website, it is now possible to
> have
> > a
> > > > URL
> > > > that is completely in the script used for a language. This means that
> a
> > > > Russian URL would be completely in the Cyrillic script and it would
> not
> > > > need
> > > > to end with .org.
> > > >
> > > > I would like the Wikimedia Foundation to get the necessary domains to
> > > > support the scripts that we have language versions in.  The BBC
> article
> > > > explains that people do find the need to move from one script to the
> > > other
> > > > as problematic and cumbersome. Obviously, we can have the necessary
> > > mapping
> > > > from our current Latin based URLs to the ones in other scripts. This
> > will
> > > > be
> > > > an important feature because we want people to easily move between
> our
> > > > projects.
> > > > Thanks,
> > > >      GerardM
> > > >
> > > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8333209.stm
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > foundation-l mailing list
> > > > foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> > > > Unsubscribe:
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> > > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > foundation-l mailing list
> > > foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
> > foundation-l mailing list
> > foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> >
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>