1001 Webs provides translation and localization of websites, which involves the translation of both visible content and HTML and XML code (Title Tags, Meta Tags, Alt Tags, etc.) and the adaptation of all the scripting components (Databases, Active Server Pages, Javascript, PHP, Perl, etc.).

And now 1001webs is going truly Global with the incorporation of Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Arabic versions of our website.

We have come across this excellent article at the Technology section of The Guardian Unlimited:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/jul/27/guardianweeklytechnologysection5

Below are some excerpts:

Read this for starters:

"Despite everything you may have heard, the global resource we all know as the internet is not global at all. Since you are reading this article in English you probably won't have noticed, but if your first language was Chinese, Arabic, Hindi or Tamil, you would know very different."

Ever wondered about ASCII codes and implementation in non-Latin languages:

"the term ASCII itself. It stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange and it is the code devised to enable computers to represent and process all the characters in the English alphabet (a through to z, plus 0 to 9 and the various symbols you get on your keyboard such as % and &).
It was first developed in 1967 and written into the internet's foundations by American scientists. It is now so hardwired into the net that the only way to include other characters such as accents on letters, or Chinese or Arabic script, is to use complex combinations of letters that don't exist in English words in order to represent them.
Linguists have created long tables to represent all the possible combinations and permutations of different languages. In the case of internet domain names, the address is preceded by "xn--" and then an agreed code. For example "www.rémax.com" is represented as "www.xn--rmax-bpa.com". Using this method, it suddenly becomes possible to have internet domain names containing foreign characters, and hence foreign language domain names."

But:

"From the western perspective this approach was sufficient for the rest of the world to use the internet. But the problem is that each of these domains still has to use the existing domain system with ".com" or ".net" - suffixes that are virtually incomprehensible to non Latin- derived language users."

and the conclusion is:

"... with non- Latin-language networks becoming increasingly advanced, China making it clear it is prepared to break away from the internet, MINC touting a solution that could bypass its processes altogether and, perhaps most crucially, Microsoft deciding to include IDN10 technology in the new version of Internet Explorer, out later this year, Icann has been left with no choice but to speed up the technical side of internationalised domain names in a bid to keep the net together."

We strongly recommend all of our International partners, specially those managing the Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Arabic versions of 1001webs, to read the full article at the Technology section of The Guardian Unlimited:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/jul/27/guardianweeklytechnologysection5, so they get a clearer idea of the difficulties of working with those languages.

Some Links of Interest:

ICANN
ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet's system of unique identifiers. These include domain names (like .org, .museum and country codes like .uk, .fr, .pt, .de, .es, .jp, .cn, .etc), as well as the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols. Computers use these identifiers to reach each other over the Internet. Careful management of these resources is vital to the Internet's operation.

American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)
ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that work with text. Most modern character encodings — which support many more characters than did the original — have a historical basis in ASCII.

China gives itself its own top-level domains
China has decided to bypass ICANN altogether and set up its own set of TLDs and domain name servers. In addition to the .cn TLD, China will have three new Chinese-character TLDs equating to "dot China," "dot com," and "dot net."

See also

ASCII Hex Symbol 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F NUL SOH STX ETX EOT ENQ ACK BEL BS TAB LF VT FF CR SO SI	ASCII Hex Symbol 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 1F DLE DC1 DC2 DC3 DC4 NAK SYN ETB CAN EM SUB ESC FS GS RS US	ASCII Hex Symbol 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 2A 2B 2C 2D 2E 2F (space) ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . /	ASCII Hex Symbol 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 3A 3B 3C 3D 3E 3F 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ?
ASCII Hex Symbol 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 4A 4B 4C 4D 4E 4F @ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O	ASCII Hex Symbol 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 5A 5B 5C 5D 5E 5F P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _	ASCII Hex Symbol 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 6A 6B 6C 6D 6E 6F ` a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o	ASCII Hex Symbol 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 7A 7B 7C 7D 7E 7F p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~ 

ASCII Codes | HTML Codes | Conversion | References | Control Characters

Standard ASCII set, HTML Entity names, ISO 10646, ISO 8879, ISO 8859-1 Latin alphabet No. 1 Browser support: All browsers

ASCII HTML HTML Dec Hex Symbol Number Name Description 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 2A 2B 2C 2D 2E 2F ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / " & space exclamation point double quotes number sign dollar sign percent sign ampersand single quote opening parenthesis closing parenthesis asterisk plus sign comma minus sign - hyphen period slash

ASCII HTML HTML Dec Hex Symbol Number Name Description 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 3A 3B 3C 3D 3E 3F 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ? < > zero one two three four five six seven eight nine colon semicolon less than sign equal sign greater than sign question mark

ASCII HTML HTML Dec Hex Symbol Number Name Description 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 4A 4B 4C 4D 4E 4F @ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O @ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O at symbol

ASCII HTML HTML Dec Hex Symbol Number Name Description 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 5A 5B 5C 5D 5E 5F P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _ P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _ opening bracket backslash closing bracket caret - circumflex underscore

ASCII HTML HTML Dec Hex Symbol Number Name Description 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 6A 6B 6C 6D 6E 6F ` a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o ` a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o grave accent

ASCII HTML HTML Dec Hex Symbol Number Name Description 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 7A 7B 7C 7D 7E 7F p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~ p q r s t u v w x y z { | } ~ opening brace vertical bar closing brace equivalency sign - tilde (not defined in HTML 4 standard)

ASCII HTML HTML Dec Hex Symbol Number Name Description 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 8A 8B 8C 8D 8E 8F (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard)

ASCII HTML HTML Dec Hex Symbol Number Name Description 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 9A 9B 9C 9D 9E 9F (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard) (not defined in HTML 4 standard)

ASCII HTML HTML Dec Hex Symbol Number Name Description 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 A0 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 AA AB AC AD AE AF ¡ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ¦ § ¨ © ª « ¬ ­ ® ¯ ¡ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ¦ § ¨ © ª « ¬ ­ ® ¯ ¡ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ¦ § ¨ © ª « ¬ ­ ® ¯ non-breaking space inverted exclamation mark cent sign pound sign currency sign yen sign broken vertical bar section sign spacing diaeresis - umlaut copyright sign feminine ordinal indicator left double angle quotes not sign soft hyphen registered trade mark sign spacing macron - overline

ASCII HTML HTML Dec Hex Symbol Number Name Description 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 B0 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 BA BB BC BD BE BF ° ± ² ³ ´ µ ¶ · ¸ ¹ º » ¼ ½ ¾ ¿ ° ± ² ³ ´ µ ¶ · ¸ ¹ º » ¼ ½ ¾ ¿ ° ± ² ³ ´ µ ¶ · ¸ ¹ º » ¼ ½ ¾ ¿ degree sign plus-or-minus sign superscript two - squared superscript three - cubed acute accent - spacing acute micro sign pilcrow sign - paragraph sign middle dot - Georgian comma spacing cedilla superscript one masculine ordinal indicator right double angle quotes fraction one quarter fraction one half fraction three quarters inverted question mark

ASCII HTML HTML Dec Hex Symbol Number Name Description 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 C0 C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 CA CB CC CD CE CF À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï latin capital letter A with grave latin capital letter A with acute latin capital letter A with circumflex latin capital letter A with tilde latin capital letter A with diaeresis latin capital letter A with ring above latin capital letter AE latin capital letter C with cedilla latin capital letter E with grave latin capital letter E with acute latin capital letter E with circumflex latin capital letter E with diaeresis latin capital letter I with grave latin capital letter I with acute latin capital letter I with circumflex latin capital letter I with diaeresis

ASCII HTML HTML Dec Hex Symbol Number Name Description 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9 DA DB DC DD DE DF Ð Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö × Ø Ù Ú Û Ü Ý Þ ß Ð Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö × Ø Ù Ú Û Ü Ý Þ ß Ð Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö × Ø Ù Ú Û Ü Ý Þ ß latin capital letter ETH latin capital letter N with tilde latin capital letter O with grave latin capital letter O with acute latin capital letter O with circumflex latin capital letter O with tilde latin capital letter O with diaeresis multiplication sign latin capital letter O with slash latin capital letter U with grave latin capital letter U with acute latin capital letter U with circumflex latin capital letter U with diaeresis latin capital letter Y with acute latin capital letter THORN latin small letter sharp s - ess-zed

ASCII HTML HTML Dec Hex Symbol Number Name Description 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 E0 E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 EA EB EC ED EE EF à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï latin small letter a with grave latin small letter a with acute latin small letter a with circumflex latin small letter a with tilde latin small letter a with diaeresis latin small letter a with ring above latin small letter ae latin small letter c with cedilla latin small letter e with grave latin small letter e with acute latin small letter e with circumflex latin small letter e with diaeresis latin small letter i with grave latin small letter i with acute latin small letter i with circumflex latin small letter i with diaeresis

ASCII HTML HTML Dec Hex Symbol Number Name Description 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 FA FB FC FD FE FF ð ñ ò ó ô õ ö ÷ ø ù ú û ü ý þ ÿ ð ñ ò ó ô õ ö ÷ ø ù ú û ü ý þ ÿ ð ñ ò ó ô õ ö ÷ ø ù ú û ü ý þ ÿ latin small letter eth latin small letter n with tilde latin small letter o with grave latin small letter o with acute latin small letter o with circumflex latin small letter o with tilde latin small letter o with diaeresis division sign latin small letter o with slash latin small letter u with grave latin small letter u with acute latin small letter u with circumflex latin small letter u with diaeresis latin small letter y with acute latin small letter thorn latin small letter y with diaeresis

HTML 4.01, ISO 10646, ISO 8879, Latin extended A and B, Browser support: Internet Explorer > 4, Netscape > 4

HTML HTML Dec Hex Symbol Number Name Description 338 339 352 353 376 402 152 153 160 161 178 192 Œ œ Š š Ÿ ƒ Œ œ Š š Ÿ ƒ latin capital letter OE latin small letter oe latin capital letter S with caron latin small letter s with caron latin capital letter Y with diaeresis latin small f with hook - function

HTML HTML Dec Hex Symbol Number Name Description 8211 8212 8216 8217 8218 8220 8221 8222 8224 8225 8226 8230 8240 8364 8482 2013 2014 2018 2019 201A 201C 201D 201E 2020 2021 2022 2026 2030 20AC 2122 – — ‘ ’ ‚ “ ” „ † ‡ • … ‰ € ™ – — ‘ ’ ‚ “ ” „ † ‡ • … ‰ € ™ € en dash em dash left single quotation mark right single quotation mark single low-9 quotation mark left double quotation mark right double quotation mark double low-9 quotation mark dagger double dagger bullet horizontal ellipsis per thousand sign euro sign trade mark sign

ASCII Codes | HTML Codes | Conversion | References | Control Characters

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More Info:
http://ascii.cl

Links to ASCII and HTML Standards documents:

HTML 4.01 - Specification HTML 4.01 - Character set HTML 4.01 - Character entities HTML 4.01 - References 7-Bit American National Standard Code for Information Interchange (7-Bit ASCII) - ANSI Document X3.4-1986 (R1997) Specification for standard set of 128 characters, ANSI Approval Date: 12/23/1997 Unicode Code Charts Mathematical Markup Language 1.01 Specification RFC822: Standard for ARPA Internet Text Messages David H. Crocker, August 13, 1982 ASCII format for Network Interchange Vint Cerf, October 16, 1969 A tutorial on character code issues Jukka Korpela, updated.

Links to Standards Organizations

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) American Nacional Standards Institute (ANSI) International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Unicode NSSN - Global Standards Organization National Institute of Standards and Technology World Standards Services Network