10 ms·

Web browsers should have an option to show non-ascii chars in urls in red.

blacktulip 10y ago
And on by default
nailer 10y ago
They should already only show punycode for characters inside your locale. 'ɢ' is obviously an exception since (I imagine) it's considered to be in your locale, but maybe it shouldn't be.
- Freak_NL 10y ago
  That would be very confusing for multilingual users. Just because my OS is configured to use a certain locale, doesn't mean I don't read text in scripts not considered part of it.
  - nailer 10y ago
    Your OS (and browser) support multiple languages, so if you speak a language they should in the list.
    - Freak_NL 10y ago
      They are of course, but if you use that list instead of a single locale, you end up with a solution that only highlights 'strange' characters when they are not part of your language/locale set. So for someone who speaks only Latin character based languages you could highlight all Cyrillic characters, but for someone who speaks Russian you still have the original problem (it's not as if you can just highlight all Latin characters in their case!).
mcv 10y ago
This would be a great solution. Allowing unicode characters in domain names is just inviting trouble. I understand that people with non-Latin scripts want domain names in their own language and alphabet, but there are way too many unicode characters that will confuse people about legitimate-looking domain names. Showing non-ascii in red would be an easy solution for everybody.
- vbezhenar 10y ago
  > people with non-Latin scripts want domain names in their own language I've yet to see a useful site with Cyrillic domain. Theoretically it sounds good, but practically everyone still uses Latin domains. May be it'll change with time.
  - kalleboo 10y ago
    Same thing here in Japan with Kanji domains. Although I believe Windows XP usage here is still non-insignificant...
- Klathmon 10y ago
  Wouldn't a good compromise to be to somehow highlight any characters that are outside of ASCII and the character set of the language you are using in the browser/os?
- brainfire 10y ago
  Everybody who isn't colorblind anyway.
  - entropy_ 10y ago
    Use blue, the most common types of color blindness are red-green issues(there's a really tiny percentage that doesn't perceive colors at all but really really tiny. And other than those, nobody has trouble with blue) Source: I'm colorblind(protanope) and red would definitely be an issue. Android studio, for example, is really annoying for me because the particular red they use for errors is very hard to distinguish from black
    - lb1lf 10y ago
      -Tritanopes may beg to differ (regarding the blue not being an issue, that is.) Significantly less common than red/green deficiency, though - I only know of one more on the island I live on (pop. 15,000 or so)
koliber 10y ago
Chinese character domains would be shown in red letters. I think it's a good choice of color. :)
- hatsunearu 10y ago
  What about websites without Chinese characters? I know in Asia, having red colored names is kind of offensive (evokes of the Reaper's 'hit list'). Would be annoying if [name].me or whatever is red!
  - koliber 10y ago
    I agree with you completely. Cultural sensitivity is a difficult thing when you have a global audience for your product or service. Maybe as part of the locale configuration, in addition to number and date format, people should pick a friendly and an offensive color! :)
  - booleandilemma 10y ago
    Black is associated with death in western culture and no one seems to be bothered.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
marcosdumay 10y ago
It should display each code page with a different color. That would make the schema useful for non-english speaking people too.
- rbanffy 10y ago
  \o/ rainbow URLs ftw!
VMG 10y ago
"Neat, Sparkasse now even has a colored domain name! Now where did I put my TAN device again?" - Average User
angry-hacker 10y ago
Cool, my head of marketing department wants a RED domain.
Dove 10y ago
No reason for me to try to pick out specific characters. I won't notice. Plus, it won't work for zero width characters, and I might miss it for really tiny ones. Give me a popup warning explaining the problem when I try to visit the site, same as I get for certificate problems.
vurpo 10y ago
It would need a more complex solution than that. For example, this is the website of a local bus company where I live: http://åbus.fi http://åbus.fi The characters are from the Latin character set, but non-ASCII. Highlighting the Å in red would look pretty confusing. And in many countries you want the entire domain name written in non-ASCII characters, depending on the language. E.g. websites in Russia, China, India, etc...

And on by default

They should already only show punycode for characters inside your locale. 'ɢ' is obviously an exception since (I imagine) it's considered to be in your locale, but maybe it shouldn't be.

Freak_NL 10y ago
That would be very confusing for multilingual users. Just because my OS is configured to use a certain locale, doesn't mean I don't read text in scripts not considered part of it.
- nailer 10y ago
  Your OS (and browser) support multiple languages, so if you speak a language they should in the list.
  - Freak_NL 10y ago
    They are of course, but if you use that list instead of a single locale, you end up with a solution that only highlights 'strange' characters when they are not part of your language/locale set. So for someone who speaks only Latin character based languages you could highlight all Cyrillic characters, but for someone who speaks Russian you still have the original problem (it's not as if you can just highlight all Latin characters in their case!).

mcv 10y ago

This would be a great solution. Allowing unicode characters in domain names is just inviting trouble. I understand that people with non-Latin scripts want domain names in their own language and alphabet, but there are way too many unicode characters that will confuse people about legitimate-looking domain names. Showing non-ascii in red would be an easy solution for everybody.

vbezhenar 10y ago
> people with non-Latin scripts want domain names in their own language I've yet to see a useful site with Cyrillic domain. Theoretically it sounds good, but practically everyone still uses Latin domains. May be it'll change with time.
- kalleboo 10y ago
  Same thing here in Japan with Kanji domains. Although I believe Windows XP usage here is still non-insignificant...
Klathmon 10y ago
Wouldn't a good compromise to be to somehow highlight any characters that are outside of ASCII and the character set of the language you are using in the browser/os?
brainfire 10y ago
Everybody who isn't colorblind anyway.
- entropy_ 10y ago
  Use blue, the most common types of color blindness are red-green issues(there's a really tiny percentage that doesn't perceive colors at all but really really tiny. And other than those, nobody has trouble with blue) Source: I'm colorblind(protanope) and red would definitely be an issue. Android studio, for example, is really annoying for me because the particular red they use for errors is very hard to distinguish from black
  - lb1lf 10y ago
    -Tritanopes may beg to differ (regarding the blue not being an issue, that is.) Significantly less common than red/green deficiency, though - I only know of one more on the island I live on (pop. 15,000 or so)

koliber 10y ago

Chinese character domains would be shown in red letters. I think it's a good choice of color. :)

hatsunearu 10y ago
What about websites without Chinese characters? I know in Asia, having red colored names is kind of offensive (evokes of the Reaper's 'hit list'). Would be annoying if [name].me or whatever is red!
- koliber 10y ago
  I agree with you completely. Cultural sensitivity is a difficult thing when you have a global audience for your product or service. Maybe as part of the locale configuration, in addition to number and date format, people should pick a friendly and an offensive color! :)
- booleandilemma 10y ago
  Black is associated with death in western culture and no one seems to be bothered.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

marcosdumay 10y ago

It should display each code page with a different color. That would make the schema useful for non-english speaking people too.

rbanffy 10y ago
\o/ rainbow URLs ftw!

VMG 10y ago

"Neat, Sparkasse now even has a colored domain name! Now where did I put my TAN device again?" - Average User

angry-hacker 10y ago

Cool, my head of marketing department wants a RED domain.

Dove 10y ago

No reason for me to try to pick out specific characters. I won't notice. Plus, it won't work for zero width characters, and I might miss it for really tiny ones. Give me a popup warning explaining the problem when I try to visit the site, same as I get for certificate problems.

vurpo 10y ago

It would need a more complex solution than that. For example, this is the website of a local bus company where I live: http://åbus.fi http://åbus.fi The characters are from the Latin character set, but non-ASCII. Highlighting the Å in red would look pretty confusing. And in many countries you want the entire domain name written in non-ASCII characters, depending on the language. E.g. websites in Russia, China, India, etc...