Unit 9 Assignment

IT177-02 Website Design

Unit 9 Assignment
The entire concept behind website design is to be user-friendly. All content needs to be driven by the end user’s needs. Websites are used to relay information and entertain. A difficult to use or understand website will not garner any users, thus wasting time and effort. A website must be designed with all people in mind, from the disabled to the young. The average internet user has a very short attention span and if a website isn’t immediately engaging, the user will move on. There are also language barriers that prevent websites from being useful. Websites are created in every country, in every language, in every dialect of language. The content needs to be translated for the information to be universal. There are many tools and websites that translate information to be understandable to every internet user on the planet.
Google Translate. Initial problems, with my last name being Bell, translation did not realize it was a surname, and translated it. I initially translated my page into German, where it translated it to Glocke. There are phrases that it also didn’t pick up and translate at all. Management Accounting and Bachelor of Science were not translated and left in English. However, when I used the site www.online-translator.com to translate my page to German, it realized that Bell was a surname and did not translate, and it also translated Management Accounting and Bachelor of Science properly into German. I would say that out of the two translators, the online-translator.com site performed better than the Google Translate. While machine and program ran translators are useful for basic language sites. But there are times when a professional translator will be required. Programs aren’t able to pick up on the nuances of every language. There are words that exist in German that have no English translation, and vice versa. Translators do not just replace words, they must capture the feel and essence of the information as well. The phrase “lost in translation” exists for a reason, and a professional translator can keep things from getting “lost” on your website. Additionally, the English language only accounts for 31% of online content (Slideshare.net, 2014), meaning that 69% of everything on the internet isn’t in English, and that’s a whole lot of content to miss out on because of a language barrier. Professional translators also can translate specialized language, like science terms and internet slang. Websites that sell products would also benefit from having their sites translated. It is very unlikely that a person will buy something from a website in a language they don’t understand. Having a drop down menu to choose what language you would like the site to be displayed in would be the simplest way for a designer to display their language options.
Most major websites have the option of displaying in different languages based on country. For example, Amazon.com has an option to have the site displayed specifically for Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain and the United Kingdom. Going to all the different country options, the design of the site remains consistent. I noticed that the cover content and items being displayed on the home page do vary from country to country. The United States version has mostly phones and electronics, while India and Spain have almost all books. Italy had designer watches and clothing displayed. I believe they tailor each home page to what is most popular in that country. The individual item pages and the item descriptions are also translated into the language of the country, and the prices are all converted into whatever currency that country uses as well. An additional feature that would be beneficial to the site would to be able to order something from across countries. As the site is now, you can only register an account to buy in the country you reside in. Americans can only get a US account if they have a US address. Only people who live in Italy can register and order from the Italian site. It would be a great feature if a buyer in the US could buy something from the Italian site (if the shipping allowed it). There would obviously be import issues, and not all things might be able to be shipped to different countries, but being able to buy things from other countries would be an added benefit.
CNN.com also has four versions of its website. It allows you to choose from the US, International, Mexico and Arabic. Each of the four versions has a different layout and different content. The site displays content directly related to the country of choice. The US and International sites display much of the same content from both the US and throughout Europe. The Mexico version displays articles and news specific to the Mexican region, along with other newsworthy international stories. I did notice however that the Mexico version does not provide a link to the Arabic version. The US, Mexico and International version all use a bold red background, it’s almost visually assaulting. The Arabic site uses a light blue for the background instead, which I believe is probably due to cultural differences. The Arabic site also seems to have news stories based more on military and political topics than anything else, there’s no discernable sections for “lifestyle” or “entertainment”. One thing that I think would be a good addition to the CNN site is to be able to read content from other countries in English. For instance, the Arabic site had news stories not available in the US edition. A non-Arabic speaker still might want to read these stories, but would need to translate it into English.
Because of the vastness of the internet, and the amount of information available from every corner of the globe, translation is necessary to make this information obtainable to everyone. Different cultural and language represent information differently, so translating them into different languages can pose a challenge that not even the best program can get right. Sometimes, it still takes a live person to give life to electronic information.

References
Slideshare.net, (2014). 5 Steps to Open Your Website to a Global Audience. [online] Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/AcquiaInc/5-steps-to-open-your-website-to-a-global-audience [Accessed 26 Oct. 2014].

Translation: A Must-have Guide. (2014). 1st ed. [ebook] Reston: Maximus. Available at: http://www.maximus.com/sites/default/files/Translation%20A%20Must- Have%20Guide.pdf [Accessed 26 Oct. 2014].