Multilingual (and Symbol based) domain names vs. English only domain names
Answer: To learn more about different types of domain names, please read the following.
Brief History of Domain Names Before the use of domain names, Internet users have to access a website using an IP address, which is a unique string of numbers (eg. 123.45.6.7) that is assigned to a website. Domain names then naturally came into place as it was recognized that IP addresses are not easy to remember, and the Internet needed a naming system that is more accessible and user-friendly. Domain names not only be used as the names of websites, but also became an important element of corporate online identities.
The Evolution of Multilingual Domain Names As the internet becomes more and more global, the technical restriction of only allowing domain names to consist of ASCII (a to z, 1 to 9, and "-") characters became a concern to the internet communities around the world. Since the non-English speaking countries are among the fastest growing internet populations, the need for a domain name system (DNS) that can handle multilingual characters became essential for the internet to be a truly boundariless communication medium. Multilingual domain names became a popular issue in the discussions of the internet technical and regulatory bodies such as ICANN and IETF. A technical standard is expected to be established for the development and use of multilingual domain names.
Are multilingual domains available in all TLD extensions? And what are the differences between the multilingual domain offerings from different TLD registries?
Answer:
Multilingual domain names are not available in all TLD extensions. Currently, you can register multilingual domains in .com, .net, .info, .bz, .Ltd.com and.Corp.com. However, please note the following details regarding each TLD:
.bz/.Ltd.com/.Corp.com: offer registrations in multilingual characters and keyboard symbols, websites using such domains are accessible with most browsers without the need of a plug-in.
.com/.net: offer registrations in multilingual characters (not including keyboard symbols), domains are accessible
using punycode enabled browsers, or with the use of the i-Nav plug-in, which can be obtained at http://www.idnnow.com/index.jsp.
.info: currently offer multilingual registrations only in German characters, domains are accessible using punycode enabled browsers.
Answer: You can input your desire multilingual domain name in the search box on our homepage (www.NamesBeyond.Com), and follow our online registration process.
Answer: You have to download an input method for your language. Most of them can be found on the Internet. For accented characters and symbols, you can use our "Quick Input" feature on our homepage (www.NamesB eyond.Com) for quicker access to these characters.
Why is the domain name I want to register not in the WHOIS and is not available?
Answer: Traditionally, some multilingual characters use a double-byte encoding scheme. For backward compatibility purpose, some domain names are reserved.
Answer: Multilingual domain names under .bz, .Ltd.com and .Corp.com can be accessed by the majority of browsers and OS except UNIX. Other TLDs would require the use of a punycode enabled browser or a plug-in.
Why am I not able to access a multilingual domain name?
Answer: Possible reasons are:
You are not using a proper brower or plug-in that is required by the registry, for details please refer to Q.2 and Q.6 in this section.
You are accessing the Internet via a mechanism (either a proxy server or firewall), which performs ASCII check. An ASCII check inspects and denies any requests with non-ASCII characters.
Your browser's UTF-8 option has been turned on. Under this circumstance, turn off the UTF-8 option, restart the browser and try to access the multilingual domain name again.
Answer: You would need a browser plug-in if required by the registry (please refer to Q.2 in this section), or when you access the Internet via a mechanism (either a proxy server or firewall), which performs ASCII check. An ASCII check inspects and denies any requests with non-ASCII characters. Under this circumstance, you need a browser plug-in to access multilingual domain names.
How do I type in a multilingual domain name to my browsers?
Answer: You have to download an input method for your language. Most of them can be found on the Internet. Once you have installed the input method, you can put the cursor on the location/address bar in the browser and start inputting the multilingual domain name.
How come I cannot access multilingual domains using Internet Explorer 6.0 ?
Answer: For Windows 2000/XP users Internet Explorer 6.0 was distributed without a crucial registry entry for multilingual domain support. This means that it will not support multilingual domains without adding the registry entry. You can install the registry entry by clicking here and opening the file. Once you install the registry key you must close all active browsers. Once you re-open your browser you will be able to access multilingual domains. The following registry will be added: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\-Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\InternetSettings "MBCSServername"=dword:00000000
