IDNwiki
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Welcome to the IDN TLD evaluation gateway!
There are new articles on Additional languages and Technical topics.
Contents |
Introduction
This page provides an introduction to a test of IDN top-level domain names that ICANN is coordinating. The test is based on eleven new internationalized domains representing the name example.test entirely in scripts other than the familiar Latin characters that appear in current top-level labels. The languages initially selected for illustrating this are listed in the table below, and the rationale behind their choice is discussed in the sidebar article on basic concepts. These TLDs can be accessed by clicking on the links in the first column in the table. However, as with any other IDNs, if they are typed or copied and pasted directly into the address line of a browser, they will only work if that browser has full support for IDN. The names in the second column are intended to be used in that manner and, if they don't initially perform as intended, some software reconfiguration may help. Additional articles discuss local configuration and individual software applications.
Your participation is important!
Public participation in the evaluation of these domains is one of the most important parts of the project. Joining this initiative requires nothing more than for you to click through one or more of the links in the table and report about the experience on the "discussion page" indicated with a tab at the top of this and the other IDNwiki articles.
- Were the results what you expected?
- Were there any problems that you couldn't solve?
- Can the evaluation facility be improved?
A discussion page is linked to every article in the IDNwiki and users can place their commentary where they feel it is most relevant. This user feedback will be valuable in planning and implementing the final steps leading to the delegation of top-level IDNs.
Limited evaluation period
Please note that the eleven example.test strings are only intended for a limited period of evaluation, that no registration of subdomains in them will be possible, and that they will be removed unconditionally and permanently from the Domain Name System at the end of evaluation. Therefore, names cannot be embedded in any systems that are to remain operational after that time. The information created by your participation will, however, be kept available beyond the termination of the test IDNs, via a second URL that every article has in the established domain name space. These alternate URLs appear under the "evaluation" heading in the sidebar. They also include IDN labels, but on a level where they have long been in full production. (A further non-IDN alternative is listed on the main page of each of the separate language areas.)
Things to test
The very first thing that you can do to participate in the evaluation is test the behavior of your own working environment.
- Do the clickable links work properly in your browser?
- Are the IDNs displayed as you expect them to be in its address and status lines?
- What happens if you copy and paste, or type the name into the address line?
- Try the corresponding tests with your e-mail program on the separate test page.
- If you type or copy an IDN URL into another application that you use, how does it accommodate IDNs? (E.g., if your word processor turns URLs into clickable links, do they work as intended, and are they correctly maintained if passed onward to other applications?)
- Have you tested alternatives (such as other browsers) to the software that you are accustomed to?
Further information about the IDNwiki
Additional information about the capability of this IDNwiki is provided in articles listed under the sidebar headings “navigation” and "interaction", and the separate language areas contain further material specific to each. The link to an article includes a "path" designator after the domain name, separated by a slash, as http://example.test/path. If the path contains characters from the same script as the IDN, your browser will display them either as legible text or as a cryptic sequence of "%cc" characters. This is another key aspect of internationalization but, although closely related to the consideration of IDNs, it is outside the strict scope of the example.test evaluation. Nonetheless, it clearly part of the way the material on this IDNwiki appears and your comments about it are also welcome.
The various factors described here are subject to conditions that can differ significantly from locale to locale, and much of the value of this exercise depends on users reporting their own local experiences. To facilitate this discussion, separate areas of the IDNwiki have been established for the eleven example.test domains. Individual moderators for each of the corresponding languages will help effectuate dialog, respond to queries, and provide general assistance to the participants. The moderators will also translate the core English-language documentation, and otherwise strive to improve and adapt the IDNwiki as appropriate to the communities they are assisting.
The example.test names
| Clickable links, should work in all browsers. | For pasting or typing, requires full IDN support. | Script | Language |
|---|---|---|---|
| http://مثال.إختبار | http://مثال.إختبار | Arabic | Arabic |
| http://例子.测试 | http://例子.测试 | Simplified Chinese | Chinese |
| http://例子.測試 | http://例子.測試 | Traditional Chinese | Chinese |
| http://παράδειγμα.δοκιμή | http://παράδειγμα.δοκιμή | Greek | Greek |
| http://उदाहरण.परीक्षा | http://उदाहरण.परीक्षा | Devanagari | Hindi |
| http://例え.テスト | http://例え.テスト | Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana | Japanese |
| http://실례.테스트 | http://실례.테스트 | Hangul | Korean |
| http://مثال.آزمایشی | http://مثال.آزمایشی | Perso-Arabic | Persian |
| http://пример.испытание | http://пример.испытание | Cyrillic | Russian |
| http://உதாரணம்.பரிட்சை | http://உதாரணம்.பரிட்சை | Tamil | Tamil |
| http://בײַשפּיל.טעסט | http://בײַשפּיל.טעסט | Hebrew | Yiddish |
Additional languages and scripts are supported in the IDNwiki as listed in the sidebar and described in a separate article.
