Making your Web Site Accessible and International - Going global

1. Websites for international audiences
Going global on the web
Alex Fenton – PPTT 2.0 - Technical Development lead
Email: a.fenton@salford.ac.uk | Twitter: @alexfenton

2. 1. Country specific websites
2. Speed
3. Standards
4. Language
5. Template
6. Access
7. Search and Social Media
Introduction
Websites for international audiences

3. 1. Country Specific websites

4. 1. Country Specific websites
• Purchasing the relevant country domain names e.g.
www.yourbusiness.fr – Could be expensive
• Using sub-domains e.g. fr.yourbusiness.com – cheaper
but could be difficult to manage
• Using sub-folders e.g. www.yourbusiness.com/fr -
simpler, cheaper and good for the search engines

5. 2. Speed – Test before you go global

6. 2. Speed – optimise and test your site
• Test your website’s speed using real and automated
methods
• Connection speeds vary around the world and on
different devices
• Your website should load within a few seconds
• Try automated testers such as tools.pingdom.com/fpt
• Optimise your images and other media to improve
speed
• People and the search engines will not wait for your
website to load

7. 3. Website standards
• Make sure your website complies with latest standards
• Use standards test websites such as W3C
• Make sure your website works properly on IE, Chrome,
Firefox, Safari, Android and Iphone
• Make sure it is accessible to people with disabilities

8. 4. Language

9. 4. Language
• Professional translation of your content into your
target languages – some or all pages?
• Automated translation using tools such as Babelfish,
Google translate or translate widgets – Not as good as
professional translation
• Use clear language
• Use of animation or imagery to convey a message –
check cultural connotations

10. 5. Website template
• Text as graphics? – Use font replacement instead from
services such as google.com/fonts
• Website design should be adaptable to longer or
shorter text depending on the language

11. 6. Website access from around the world

12. 6. Website access from around the world
• Webstats – Use them to understand which countries
are accessing your website and how
• Testing around the world – use testers and people to
test how quickly and accessible your site is in your
target countries
• Blocked? – Check that your website is not blocked in
your target countries, for example, the Great Firewall
of China www.greatfirewallofchina.org

13. 7. Global Search and Social Media

14. 7. Global Search and Social Media
• Is your site visible in the search engines that your
target audience is using?
• Google is often, but not always the most popular
search engine, depending on the country
• Which social networks are your target audience using?
Use Passport to Trade to help your understand
• Use relevant social media networks to connect with
your target audience in your target countries

15. Questions?
a.fenton@salford.ac.uk - @alexfenton