Thinking Global

October 16, 2003 | 2 Comments

This week in Digital Web — A very good and, as usual, very timely article from Alan K’necht. It’s called, Think Beyond — Think Global, and it’s a must read for anyone working on the Web, especially those of us working in the USA. They don’t call it the World Wide Web for nothing.

It’s really past time that many Web sites look into how they are perceived around the world, things like design and language can carry a vastly different meaning to those who come from a different cultural framework than your own. In the end, if you aren’t starting to think globally, you may be hurting locally — as in your pocketbook.

This is a hot (getting hotter), necessary and complex issue that I know I’m very interested in. Look for more on this in the near future. In the meantime, I’d be very interested in getting your thoughts and experiences with globalization. Post them here.

Filed under: Web General

Comments

1. Matt said:

I’m going to write up a longer reponse on my own site, but in short, globalization is much more difficult than he makes it sound in that article. A lot of corporations don’t have the capability, or simply aren’t ready, to deal with the unique challenges global operations present. Adding a few lines of text here and there on your site isn’t going to help anyone. Globalization goes way, way, WAY beyond that.

Towards the end of the article, he does make mention of a few of the problems, such as images that may carry different cultural implications in other countries. But really, EVERYTHING on your site carries different cultural implications. The only way to truly appeal to international customers is to build a new site for that market, based on their own cultural norms. Trying to make a “one-size-fits-all” website is doing a tremendous disservice to customers from all cultures, be it America, Canada, or anywhere else.

Posted on October 16, 2003 12:44 PM | #

2. Alan K'necht said:

Matt is correct to make a truly global web site is a lot of work. In my article I point to the BBC’s site as an example of one well done. No one in their right mind would think that was a no brainer or an easy thing to accomplish.

What Matt missed is the point of make a web site Globally friend. This is not say targeting the market in Italy with an American focused site with just a few lines of code. Rather more of making it friendly to people accessing your site from Italy. Telling the visitor that prices are in US dollars and not Canadian dollars is just one small step. Do you even ship beyond your local borders? Don’t waste peoples valuable time if you don’t be upfront.

My article reference internationally friendly sites, multicutural sites and global web sites. The first two are easier then the last, but all can be accomplished with varying degrees of effort and yes budgets.

Posted on October 23, 2003 11:30 AM | #