So what do our resident web heads think of this?

[AtW]

I'm sure you and scurine army can knock up a solution over a cup of tea and a few acorns

Oh yes we can..

This is not so much as supporting unicode IMHO, but changing domain verification code - it should in theory reject it if non-latin characters used, who'll be updating old routers etc?

[NickFitz]

Oh yes we can..

This is not so much as supporting unicode IMHO, but changing domain verification code - it should in theory reject it if non-latin characters used, who'll be updating old routers etc?

That's the whole point of this process: the idea is that a small number of IDN ccTLDs will be created, so that implementors can find out what needs to be done to make this work, and then do it.

Initially, development focused on enabling the introduction of IDNs as registrations under existing TLDs (which has been available under technical standards since 2003), but now focus has shifted to broadening the repertoire of characters available for use in top-level strings as well.

- http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/

You're six years behind anyway

[AtW]

That's the whole point of this process: the idea is that a small number of IDN ccTLDs will be created, so that implementors can find out what needs to be done to make this work, and then do it.

Who will be updating firmware in old consumer routers that would not accept non-latin characters for domains? Even if all software DNS servers are updated there will be shredload of hardware that won't work with it, I can't see that working well at all.

[xoggoth]

I used Babel Fish to inspect my website in Korean yesterday. Needless to say it was still totally brilliant.

[pzz76077]

That is exactly the idea of unicode, but most DNS implementations ( Bind, MS DNS Server etc ) do not support unicode as standard.

There are a number of local hacks available that will work for individual DNS servers but they are not consitent, and they only work for those users who's DNS is configured to use them. The vast majority of DNS services provided by ISP's, Tier 1,2 and 3 providers and individual organizations *do not* support unicode.

The proposal for IDN ( International Domain Names ) now passed and about to be implemented will effectively mean that every DNS server in the world will need to provide partial unicode support as standard with no further action required by the client.

I say partial because it only applies to the unicode equivalent of the latin alphanumerics, it will not include unicode equivalents of non alphanumeric characters not currently permitted in domain names.

Any binary string can be used in a DNS name. (RFC 2181)

Even Microsoft have supported non Roman DNS queries since 2005 so their web site sais and they are always last!

PZZ