Infinite Path

Non-Latin script web addresses have been approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), the internet regulator, in a move which has widely been hailed as a major landmark in the history of the web.

Domain names in scripts such as Chinese, Russian, and Arabic will now be permitted after Icann’s board gave the proposals the go-ahead at their annual meeting and it is thought that the new Internationalised Domain Names could become a reality as soon as 2010, with applications accepted from the middle of November this year.

The official explanation behind Icann’s approval of the plans is said to be the desire to meet the needs of the large number of internet users who speak languages which do not use Latin scripts. It is thought that over half of internet users around the world fit into this category and, as the internet continues to grow in popularity and importance in non-Western countries, the need to adapt in this way is obvious.

It’s not an issue that users of the web in places like the UK and the USA spend much time thinking about but for users in other locations, such as China, the news will revolutionise the manner in which the internet is used. Millions more people will now be able to access websites directly with keyboards designed using their own scripts; wasting time getting acquainted with Western-style keyboards will no longer be necessary.

Icann believes that this change is a step forward in the quest to make the world wide web truly live up to its name.