[IxDA Discuss] country views on global sites

[Doc]

Leah,

I would second the notion that the user should easily be able to change the
'preset' settings you assign when/if you can detect their country &
language. I've seen quite a few corporate networks configured such that
traffic is always routed externally through a single corporate
firewall/proxy server, and it's that server which will provide you with the
IP address and other indications of locale. For example, we have some
clients here in Australia whose traffic is routed within their corporate
network to London/Birmingham before heading off the desired site; another
that routes through Singapore. We also have a client in Hong Kong whose
mainland China users appear as HK traffic.

A similar issue exists (or at least did) with AOL users, who all tended to
appear as originating in Virginia, US, regardless of their physical
location, as they were routed through AOL's proxy server farm there.

So, although you may be able to determine a locale, it might not always
correspond correctly to the user's actual location, so an easy 'out' for the
user is essential.

On the plus side, I think this form of 'helpfulness' on your part is a
positive. A good portion of users will end up at the correctly designated
version of the site, and they'll be one step closer to being able to use
your site effectively.

Another consideration would be to ensure that you can 'remember' the user's
selection for their next visit so that, if they have changed away from your
predicted preferences, they won't have to go through the same exercise
again.

If you are going to automatically direct the visitor towards a
country-specific version of the site, I think it's important that each
version of the site contain much the same information, if localised.

Finally, you should try and respect a direct URL even if it appears to be
from the 'wrong' country for that visitor. i.e. if I send someone a link to
a specific page within your site on, say, the English version for France,
they should be taken to that same version of the page even if they appear to
be located in Hong Kong (for example).

Best Regards,

Steve Baty

On 03/08/06, Leah Cunningham <lcunningham at sequelstudio.com> wrote:
>
> [Please voluntarily trim replies to include only relevant quoted
> material.]
>
> Has anyone had experience with this type of arrangement? Is there any
> overriding argument for or against this?
>
>
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Steve 'Doc' Baty B.Sc (Maths), M.EC, MBA
Director, User Experience Strategy
Red Square
P: +612 8289 4930
M: +61 417 061 292

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