3 ms·

Is it the browser or HN that's turning that URL into http://xn----rmckbbajlc6dj7bxne2c.xn--wgbh1c/ http://xn----rmckbbajlc6dj7bxne2c.xn--wgbh1c/ ?

hubb 17y ago
From TFA: Icann warned that the internationalised domain names (IDNs), as they are known, would also not work on all PCs immediately. "You may see a mangled string of letters and numbers, and perhaps some percent signs or a couple of "xn--"s mixed into the address bar," said Mr Davies. "Or it may not work at all."
BigZaphod 17y ago
That is how Internationalized Domain Names (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalized_domain_name http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalized_domain_name) are encoded by the browser and/or OS to get around the fact that a lot of legacy systems assumed only ASCII characters would ever be used. There's RFCs that cover this which have been around for a number of years. Today is hardly the first day these have been live. (Correction: Doing this for the TLD is new.) On Twitter, various URL shorteners have started becoming popular which are using non-ASCII characters in the domain names. Related: I recently put together a package for iPhone developers that adds some support for IDN to NSURL (this code will be deployed in the next update of Twitterrific for iPad). http://files.iconfactory.net/sean/NSURL+IFUnicodeURL/ http://files.iconfactory.net/sean/NSURL+IFUnicodeURL/
sorbits 17y ago
The xn--… stuff is the real URL as it exists in the DNS. Conversion to/from the user’s script is supposed to be done by the browser. This has existed for quite a while, the new thing is that previously the TLD (i.e. country code) still had to be the old ASCII ISO code. Now even the TLD can be encoded, so that it will display in the country’s native script. So far there are 3 non-ASCII TLDs registered (that is, in the DNS they are still ASCII using puny coding). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puny_code http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puny_code
kijeda 17y ago
If the link works, but your browser's address bar shows the wire form with "xn--" in it, it is due to the browser's security policy. For example, Firefox will only display IDNs correctly for TLDs they approve of: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/tld-idn-policy-list.html http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/tld-idn-policy-list...
aw3c2 17y ago
Opera displays it with the actual characters.
epochwolf 16y ago
Works in Safari.

hubb 17y ago

From TFA: Icann warned that the internationalised domain names (IDNs), as they are known, would also not work on all PCs immediately. "You may see a mangled string of letters and numbers, and perhaps some percent signs or a couple of "xn--"s mixed into the address bar," said Mr Davies. "Or it may not work at all."

BigZaphod 17y ago

That is how Internationalized Domain Names (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalized_domain_name http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalized_domain_name) are encoded by the browser and/or OS to get around the fact that a lot of legacy systems assumed only ASCII characters would ever be used. There's RFCs that cover this which have been around for a number of years. Today is hardly the first day these have been live. (Correction: Doing this for the TLD is new.) On Twitter, various URL shorteners have started becoming popular which are using non-ASCII characters in the domain names. Related: I recently put together a package for iPhone developers that adds some support for IDN to NSURL (this code will be deployed in the next update of Twitterrific for iPad). http://files.iconfactory.net/sean/NSURL+IFUnicodeURL/ http://files.iconfactory.net/sean/NSURL+IFUnicodeURL/

sorbits 17y ago

The xn--… stuff is the real URL as it exists in the DNS. Conversion to/from the user’s script is supposed to be done by the browser. This has existed for quite a while, the new thing is that previously the TLD (i.e. country code) still had to be the old ASCII ISO code. Now even the TLD can be encoded, so that it will display in the country’s native script. So far there are 3 non-ASCII TLDs registered (that is, in the DNS they are still ASCII using puny coding). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puny_code http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puny_code

kijeda 17y ago

If the link works, but your browser's address bar shows the wire form with "xn--" in it, it is due to the browser's security policy. For example, Firefox will only display IDNs correctly for TLDs they approve of: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/tld-idn-policy-list.html http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/tld-idn-policy-list...

aw3c2 17y ago

Opera displays it with the actual characters.

epochwolf 16y ago

Works in Safari.