Global Briefs

A new way to measure the return on translation spending
What if we took the value that we assign to each paid referral we receive and apply this value to organic search-engine referrals? We would then have a way to begin measuring the ?return on content? our Web site generates in free referrals. And it would not take much effort to apply our return-on-content metrics to a return-on-translation metric. This is the line of thinking behind our Translating for Clicks (TFC) model.

PDF ~ February 2007 ~ 9 pages ~ $35

Internationalized domain names (IDNs) are coming: Here's what you need to know
ICANN recently announced that it will have a complete IDN solution in place by the end of 2007. This report will focus on the details, explaining what IDNs are, why they are so challenging and fraught with risk, and why companies cannot afford to ignore them. It also includes technical insights from an industry expert and well as insights from a domain name registrar and several executives who have already purchased IDNs...

PDF ~ January 2007 ~ 12 pages ~ $35

How UNICEF Manages Its Global Web Sites
UNICEF's field offices currently support 51 country Web sites, adding an additional country Web site each month. UNICEF achieved this goal without any formalized "Web globalization" budget or global top-down mandates. Instead, UNICEF's rapid globalization is due to a blend of support staff at headquarters and highly motivated local offices. UNICEF sheds light on global management best practices other multinationals organizations and corporations could learn from...

PDF ~ December 2006 ~ 7 pages ~ $15

Analyzing Nike's new global navigation
Nike recently launched a new Web design and, with it, a new global navigation scheme. What makes this architecture worth analyzing is how radically different it is from the design Nike had been using over the previous four years...

PDF ~ November 2006 ~ 11 pages ~ $25

An introduction to the new hosted translation memory service
In April, we featured an interview with Lionbridge Chief Marketing Officer Kevin Bolen on the debut of his company's hosted translation memory (TM) service: Freeway 2.0. We promised readers a firsthand report of our demo of the service and, at last, here it is...

PDF ~ July 2006 ~ 11 pages ~ $15

Tips and Trends in Global Icon Development
In this article, by focusing on some of the world?s most popular Web sites, we highlight which icons are becoming (or have become) truly global and which are not quite there yet. We also recommend tips to keep in mind as you make use of icons on your Web site...

PDF ~ March 2006 ~ 8 pages ~ $25

What to know before localizing your Web site into Arabic
Arabic is one of the world?s major languages, spoken by more than 230 million people. We expect the number of multinational companies that support Arabic on their Web sites to double this year. The main motivation for launching Arabic-language Web sites is the growing number of Arabic speakers coming online. Arabic localization has gotten a lot less complicated over the past few years as software tools and operating systems have embraced Unicode. But there are still plenty of cultural and technical challenges to be well aware of, which this article will cover. We also include a tutorial for Arab-enabling your Windows XP computer so you?ll be ready to display and input Arabic text...

PDF ~ February 2006 ~ 14 pages ~ $25

What You Need to Know About Geolocation
As companies expand the number of local Web sites they offer, the challenge to seamlessly direct visitors to this content increases in complexity and importance. Fortunately, there is an emerging technique available that promises to create a more user-friendly navigation experience, known as geolocation. Although only a few companies currently use geolocation specifically to direct Web visitors to local content, we expect that number to grow significantly over the next few years. Geolocation is a powerful tool, but it is not without its risks and it will never be a total solution to global navigation. This article explains the benefits of geolocation, how it works, and what you need to know before using it.

PDF ~ January 2005 ~ 6 pages ~ $25

Emerging Best Practices in URLs for Country and Language Web Sites
Qantas Airlines announced that it had relocated the URL of its US Web site from www.qantasUSA.com to www.qantas.com/us. We believe the relocation was a smart move and, in many ways, an inevitable move. As companies expand the number of local Web sites they support, they are discovering that they need a more consistent and standardized addressing methodology...

PDF ~ August 2005 ~ 8 pages ~ $15

InterContinental Hotels sees big return from Web globalization
While travel discounters like Expedia and Orbitz have been successful in filling hotel rooms, they've also cut into hotel profit margins. As a result, hotels have begun using the Internet to their own advantage, improving the usability and accessibility of their Web sites so that customers will book directly through them. In doing so, Web globalization has emerged as a major area of investment as hotels seek to expand their geographic and linguistic reach. Over the past year we've seen Web globalization initiatives from Best Western, Hilton, and the InterContinental Hotels Group (www.ichotelsgroup.com), the focus of our profile...

PDF ~ June 2005 ~ 8 pages ~ $5