| Kippreport.com

World wide web opens to non-Latin web addresses

May 7, 2010 8:34 by Rasha Reslan

Web addresses, including country codes, written in non-Latin alphabets are now possible, with the emergence of a system that will open the world wide web to multiple language scripts, the BBC reported Friday.

Egypt, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia are leading the way, with country codes written in Arabic script, the report added. The country code refers to the country suffix in a web address – for example, “.lb” or “.eg.”—for Lebanon and Egypt, respectively.

More than 20 countries having requested similar approval from Icann – the internet regulator that assigns domains. And while Icann said non-Latin alphabet domains are currently available, work is ongoing to ready the domains for everyone. Chinese, Thai, and Tamil scripts are reportedly among the non-Latin alphabets that will be used in the new ‘country codes,’ the BBC reported.

One of the first with a fully Arabic domain name address is Egypt’s Ministry of Communications website.

Tags: Arabic country codes, Arabic language internet, Egypt Arabic web address, internet Arabic, non-latin script, uae Arabic web address