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What’s your Facebook Pet Peeve? Here’s Our 5

by M. Dorn on May 11, 2012 · 0 comments

Facebook being a social network is an assembly ground for all sorts of people. At times we forget that it’s Facebook, a place where you can unwind, and do silly things, post pictures and funny statuses and make fun of friends – in essence, have a good time in. Then there are other people who do the oddest of things which are nothing but a source of petty annoyances.

As you read my half-hearted pleas to these individuals, see if any of them are familiar sights on your Facebook wall.

Recommended Reading: 5 Things That Shouldn’t Be On Your Facebook

1. Please don’t spoil movies

Do you have that family member or friend who sits with you through a movie you have yet to watch, then spoils the movie scene by scene? Oh, I hate them so so much, and I won’t be ashamed to give them a piece of my mind when they do that. It’s like having a villain monologue through his evil plans in your living room.

With Facebook, this is now way worse. Within the first week of a movie’s release, there will be ‘friends’ grading the movie, spoiling the best scenes and best lines all in a battery of statuses with no alert and no warnings – you can’t even turn away in time!

Here’s a thought:

Don’t spoil movies for other movie-goers. You know what you can do? Write about it on your blog or go join fan forums to celebrate or mock the movie there. Facebook is not your review column. If no one asked you how the movie was, please don’t go around giving away the secrets, twists and surprises of the movie at least until tickets to the movie stop selling out.

2. Please Keep PDAs in your Room

We’re all for nice people finding love, getting together, deciding to settle down and take the plunge to start a family. We get that. We really do. But once the PDA (public display of affection) hits reality-show level, public response will also take a dive from an "awww, that’s so sweet of Jack," to "ewww, my goosebumps are tearing through my skin – make it stop, make it stop!"

facebook share memory Whats your Facebook Pet Peeve? Heres Our 5
(Image source: Freevector)

Here’s a thought:

We enjoy a good love story and happy endings, but as with everything that ensures a healthy lifestyle, the key is moderation. Besides, flower bouquets and the size of the rock on her fingers are (maybe) for show but love declarations for honey bun and gingerbread man are meant to be kept between the two lovebirds; so why not keep it that way? Facebook is not your love nest. *whispers* There are children in there! Have some dignity.

3. Please don’t rant or scream at us

What did we do to deserve "What in the world is wrong with you, you fat jerk?" or insults like… erm, I don’t know, I can’t think of any good examples to slot in here. You know why? Because I don’t read them. These rants are obviously not directed to your Facebook friends (me), and chances are the person who should be receiving this (fat jerk) is not even a Facebook friend of yours. So why do it? Why post such distressing statuses to vent your frustrations at the expense of others?

Here’s a thought:

Instead, why not take to the status bar and tell them (as in describe briefly, not make a novel of) the terrible day you had, how that nasty colleague of yours stole your handmade sandwich, then said it was horrible which made it even worse, because you made it. (What? I just suggested no ranting. I’m not asking you to be a saint.) We are a sympathetic crowd and we love to lend a shoulder for you to cry on as long as you don’t barge into our comfort zone going Sparta on all our hinds because someone else incurred your wrath. Vent, but please don’t let your frustration rub off on people who read your statuses. Facebook is not your psychiatrist or online journal.

4. Please don’t plan your wedding with Facebook Events

Really? Would you really plan your wedding with Facebook? Is there nothing sacred about a promise of everlasting union between two souls who are in love? What happened to proper invitations with RSVP wedding cards and a call to declare that he has finally proposed, and almost just as important, the planning of the bachelor(ette) party?

Where is the fun in getting people to click ‘Join’ or ‘Decline’?

wedding Whats your Facebook Pet Peeve? Heres Our 5

Here’s a thought:

Facebook is not your wedding planner – and is useless as one. If these people you are inviting are close friends, you would stay in direct communication with them all the way to the wedding day itself. If you can’t find the time to call the rest of them it will be hard to get a proper head count for the wedding reception, because despite the 900 million accounts, not everyone logs into Facebook regularly enough.

You can however make use of Facebook Events to deliver information like directions to the venue, inform them of the wedding theme if you have one, list your contact number, or to thank everyone who had taken the time to make your wedding day a special one.

5. Please don’t complain about your job

I once watched a business show where a successful 60-year-old entrepreneur was interviewed about how he started his career in his business. He said that back then there was no such thing as stress. Stress was only invented by the generations that came after him. "Back then, you either work, or you starve." How’s that for a dose of reality?

The youths of today are using their Facebook accounts to complain about how much work they have to deal with, or how thoughtless their bosses are to make them stay back to do more work, or how their life is only about work and nothing else. The same batch of people chose to ignore the fact that they have a stable job; that under today’s labour laws they are properly compensated for their extra working time, and that they work in safe, well-lit and comfortable environments – if you can still Facebook from your workplace, then you’re one of the luckier ones.

To add to this, let’s not forget the fact that most of them are not working to put bread on the table; they are working to pay off their cars and house loans.

Here’s a thought:

If you don’t see CEOs or organisation leaders complaining about their work or responsibilities, it’s probably because they know better not to. Rather than take to Facebook, which shows all our good and bad sides, company leaders use other ways to relax, re-energise and reboot. I suggest you do the same by using Facebook to reconnect with friends outside the workplace, and leave behind unhappy experiences back at work. There is a need to compartmentalize in order to continue moving forward.

Conclusion

Believe me, I love my friends to bits but on a day when I am a lesser person, these things will really get to me. And I believe that there are things that I do that annoy other people as well. But let’s not just be critical, let’s be constructive. If you have any Facebook pet peeves you want to share, and some remedies to suggest, have your say in the comments section.

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  1. 5 Must-Know Facebook Timeline Tips/Tricks
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  3. How to Rename Facebook Page Vanity URL [Quicktip]
  4. How to Browse Your Facebook Like It’s Pinterest [Quicktip]


Source: hongkiat.com

How To Make Your Own Facebook Timeline Movie [Quicktip]

by M. Dorn on May 11, 2012 · 0 comments

Facebook Timeline changes how you present your life-story on the Web; some treat it like an online diary while others can create a simple yet beautiful collage of real-life stories. But Timeline still uses the classic web view — you still have to do plenty of scrolling to see the rest of the story.

timelinemoviemaker How To Make Your Own Facebook Timeline Movie [Quicktip]

What if you can change the experience, make your Timeline move on its own or better yet, turn it into a movie? Add a little background music for that extra feel and experience, and let the story of your life roll out frame by frame. You can do this with the help of the web application Timeline Movie Maker.

Recommended Reading: Facebook Timeline Cover: 40 (Really) Creative Examples

Preparing your Timeline movie

Preparing your Timeline movie is easy, and even after the movie is completed, you can change the background music as well as the photos that appear in the movie.

1. Make your movie

To start off, go to the Timeline Movie Maker homepage and click on the ‘Make Your Movie’ button.

makeyourmovie How To Make Your Own Facebook Timeline Movie [Quicktip]

2. Facebook Login

Click on the button ‘Log in with Facebook’ to proceed.

loginfacebook How To Make Your Own Facebook Timeline Movie [Quicktip]

3. Processing

Right after you have logged in with Facebook and allowed the access to your Timeline, the Timeline Movie Maker will process and prepare your movies. It will take around a minute or less.

processing How To Make Your Own Facebook Timeline Movie [Quicktip]

Watch your Timeline Movie

When the movie is ready, it will autoplay. Just relax and enjoy your Timeline movie.

play How To Make Your Own Facebook Timeline Movie [Quicktip]

At the end of the movie, you will have an option to replay, or share it with your friends.

replay How To Make Your Own Facebook Timeline Movie [Quicktip]

Not only that, you also get to remake your movie with changes. You are allowed to change the music background as well as photos that appear in the movie.

remake How To Make Your Own Facebook Timeline Movie [Quicktip]

Conclusion

The storyboard used for every video made in Timeline Movie Maker is the same: every video will have the same length, structure and timeframe from the start to the end. In other words, you will see a similarity of the movie presentation between yours and others. Nevertheless, it is still very exciting to see a movie made out of your own real-life story.

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  3. How to Rename Facebook Page Vanity URL [Quicktip]
  4. How to Listen to Music with Friends on Facebook [Quicktip]


Source: hongkiat.com

5 Ways “Tech Addiction” Is Changing Human Behaviour

by M. Dorn on May 9, 2012 · 0 comments

Despite using science and technology to better our lives, we are the real slaves to technology. We indulge in the need to always have something electronic in our hands – a tool that connects us to the Internet, our games or to our social networks. We’re bypassing the real world to get a digital quick-fix; our work, play and plans for stress release seem to depend on a broadband connection.

technology addicted 5 Ways Tech Addiction Is Changing Human Behaviour
(Image source: Jackaloo)

It’s only a matter of time before the same need compels today’s generations to act, react, think and behave so much differently from the pre-connected generations, for instance…

1. A new kind of danger on the road

Have you ever found yourself checking your smartphone for updates while still behind the wheel? I do; when I stop at a red light, queue up at a drive-thru, or while waiting to pick someone up. It’s a silly thing to do, I admit, but I’d never do the same when the vehicle I’m driving is moving, but that’s just me.

While we’re on the subject, drivers on the road are getting younger and younger; and the cars are getting bigger and more powerful. In many countries in the world, a 16-year-old who can barely hold his beer can legally go behind the wheel and speed 50 mph down the highway. Add the lethal dose of an addiction to their phones, a sense of reckless abandonment, and you have a recipe for disaster.

The Impact

Well, so many people are actually doing texting while driving, and getting into accidents that there is now a call by the National Transportation Safety Board (in the US) to ban texting or the use of electronic devices while driving a vehicle. Watch the news report and the video embedded in the link to get an inside view of how dangerous this phenomenon is.

2. The digital divide – at home

Individuals at every stage of their lives are now (over) exposed to technological gadgets. iPads are unashamedly used to babysit or pacify rowdy children from as young as 4 years old. Its easy-to-use interface, and colourful, entertaining and engaging apps attract the attention of these little ones, who reciprocate with the need of a constant feed of entertainment, day and night. Try taking the iPad away from the kid and you’ll see what I mean. It’s no wonder that the iPad can easily be classified as a toy for this reason.

Now, fast forward this situation to a decade from now. You see adults sitting around a table in a Wi-Fi-enabled café. Chances are they are not going to be talking to each other, not in the real world at least. At home, fights and arguments will occur a lot more often between spouses due to a lack of communication, and it’s not going to get any better when this generation have kids of their own.

kid tech addicted 5 Ways Tech Addiction Is Changing Human Behaviour
(Image source: Cyber Sociology)

Come to think of it, all of this is already happening right now.

Technology has slowly eased its way into our lives and formed glass walls between individuals who can communicate with each other but instead chose not to. As a result, well, you might want to read this and this.

The Impact

The good news is much of the world still operates on a non-virtual basis; the bad news is we are prepping the younger generation to function better online than off. You may view this as a good thing, with the world getting smaller and tech tools getting more powerful and everything, but our youths are not retaining general knowledge in their heads (you can thank Google for that), there is no need to be grammatically correct in textspeak (you can thank the 140 char limit for that) and well, social networks – they open up a new can of worms.

3. Searching for the ‘Like’ button offline

Ever wonder why social networking sites are so popular? My theory is that we have the burning desire to be the ‘popular kid’. In school, the unwritten goal was to have loads of friends, being able to share our ‘deep’ thoughts, have followers, and to a childish extent, show off the assets that we have – a pretty face, the latest tech gadget, a nice ride etc. Sound familiar?

Social networking sites are apparent, virtual replacements of this. You have the friend’s list or followers; you get to post status updates or quotes, as well as pictures depicting fragments of your life or the things you encounter. It’s like high school all over again, without the classes, of course. The one thing that this virtual counterpart does better than the conservative way is the spreading of information which is as easy as clicking ‘Share’.

The impact

These systems have made it so easy to post these bits and pieces of your life online that if you stumble upon anything worthy of posting, you’d drop everything and do it. See a car accident, it goes online, see a dog begging for food with its master, shared, see someone trying to jump off a building, posted.

Suddenly, even in the real world, you’re a surfer. You don’t stop to help the victim get out of the car, actually drop some coins into the beggar’s cup, or call the police to come stop the hapless jumper. Nope, it’s all about accommodating these urges to have the post of the day.

4. All things short and sweet

Our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Personally, I can no longer sit through a full movie, which would explain why I haven’t been to the cinema for the longest time… but that’s not the point.

The point is I can no longer concentrate on a single task at hand. That does not automatically mean that I am a multi-tasker, or that I am good at it. It just means that I have too many things, at home, at work, at school that needed my attention. Again, that’s not the point.

The fact that I can’t concentrate on one single task for a long enough period, is a source for worry. And I’m not the only one with the problem. And that is the point. We are turning into digital goldfish!

While we’re on the subject of ‘short’ things, let’s talk about short fuses. This is my most hated icon of all time…

loading 5 Ways Tech Addiction Is Changing Human Behaviour

…because it indicates that I have to act like a grown up and wait. Patience is a virtue, one that this generation finds hard to pursue. And can you blame us? We read news all around the clock, not only on a finite batch of papers that contains news that happened 24 hours ago. True, those articles contain more details which are confirmed and checked through but when it comes to getting the news first, it’s Twitter for us. Straight from the horses’ mouth, 140 chars, and easy to spread and share.

The impact

"So4those of u who weren’t payg attntn, 1)our attntn spans r gettg shortr, 2)we hv short fuses 3) we prefr 2absorb reli short bits of info." – 136 chars and you can read this.

5. Argh, matey!

Read this the other day: an "A" student was failed by his English teacher for choosing to distinguish piracy from stealing in an essay. Not sure what to make of it, really, I’m no expert in Internet ethics.

But try image Googling "piracy vs stealing" and you will be given a visual guide to the core of the debate. The gist of it was that while stealing removes the original item – like how shoplifting works – piracy makes a copy of the original item but leaves only with the copy. It’s an attempt to differentiate between the two but I’m not sure if it drives the point home.

Not that the differentiation matters. Everyone is making copies of things they didn’t pay for: movie torrents, mp3 songs, e-books, and college assignments. It’s a worldwide phenomenon and even though their lips may say it is not right to do so, their actions speak otherwise. If piracy is stealing, then the world is filled with thieves.

The impact

If you think that you don’t want to side with the major film or music studios, or major book publishers, that’s your choice. But I’d like to remind you that sometimes it isn’t about the money. It’s about the credit and the acknowledgement of all the hard work one puts into something: an invention, a piece of work, an article, a music score, an infographic, a template, a theme, heck, even the idea behind the "piracy vs stealing" image has to come from someone.

But when the item is shared, copied, reused, repackaged, submitted or sold by someone other than the creator, it just doesn’t feel right. Pretty much like how a classmate blatantly takes your assignment and passes it up as his own, then gets an A for it (or an award), wouldn’t the feeling make you feel sick to your stomach as well? On the long run, this would spell an end to originality and creativity, because if somebody else is going to take the credit, why would anyone come up anything new anymore?

Conclusion

Despite the gloomy outlook painted in this article, I’m sure that the technology that keeps us connected to the Internet has done much good for our lives. However, do remember who is in control and act like it. When your digital devices are taking up too much of your life, you know it’s time to switch it off and enjoy life unplugged.

Related posts:

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  3. 6 Ways to Unleash Creativity in the Workplace
  4. 10 Ways To Tighten Up Your Gmail Security


Source: hongkiat.com

How To Convert Your Tweets Into A Published Book [Quicktip]

by M. Dorn on May 8, 2012 · 0 comments

Twitter lets you post very short updates of a maximum of 140 characters each, and over time, these tweets become an interesting snapshot of our daily lives. However, there is one very apparent problem with Twitter. It simply moves too fast and the scrolling makes it hard to read all your previous tweets.

Twournal How To Convert Your Tweets Into A Published Book [Quicktip]

There are many ways to document your Twitter data, be it in an infographic or even extracts of tweets in the form of analytic reports. But would it be more interesting if you could document your every single tweet in a book?

Recommended Reading: Publishing A Book: 7 Cost-Effective Self-Publishing Services

Twournal is here to make that possible. You can now read your own tweets like you would read a real book. Twournal (Twitter Journal) is a third-party Twitter application that uses Twitter API, to transform your last 3,200 tweets into a published format. You can then choose to print your Twournal into a PDF ebook which is free, or turn it into a physical book for $ 20, which you can hold in your two hands.

1. Sign in with Twitter

To convert your Tweets into book form, firstly, go to the Twournal website and click on the button ‘Sign in with Twitter’.

signin twournal How To Convert Your Tweets Into A Published Book [Quicktip]

As usual, Twitter will need you to authorize access before you can proceed to use the service offered by Twournal. Simply click on the button ‘Sign In’ to proceed.

authorize twournal How To Convert Your Tweets Into A Published Book [Quicktip]

2. Customize your options

Once you have authorized the access, you will be directed to a page where you will be able to customize your printing options.

customize twournal How To Convert Your Tweets Into A Published Book [Quicktip]

The basic options are split into three categories, and they are ‘Features’, ‘Customize it’ and ‘Sell’.

  1. In ‘Features’ you will see a few options, such as the choice to add a picture in the printing, or add replies to your tweets, etc. Note that these replies are from your followers to you. Before completion, don’t forget to include your email address at the bottom of the page.

    Features How To Convert Your Tweets Into A Published Book [Quicktip]

  2. ‘Customize it’ will give you more options to customize your book. Not only can you set the cover design, you get to specifically set how your tweets should appear: by year or by ID. And yes, you can even set a dedication in your book of tweets.

    customizeit How To Convert Your Tweets Into A Published Book [Quicktip]

  3. And finally, you actually have the option of selling your Twournal to make a profit out of it. Fill up the form to have this option.

    Sellit How To Convert Your Tweets Into A Published Book [Quicktip]

3. Complete the print order

After you have completed the customization to suit your needs, click on the ‘Finish’ button.

sell How To Convert Your Tweets Into A Published Book [Quicktip]

Then you will be redirected to a preview page of your own ebook. In this page, you will have the option to buy and deliver the printed book to your doorstep; otherwise, select ‘Send me my eBook’ to direct a copy to your email address.

print twournal How To Convert Your Tweets Into A Published Book [Quicktip]

Please note that you will not get your ebook immediately, give it 24 hours to turn up in your Inbox.

Conclusion

Reading your tweets in the form of a printed book will surely remind you of some meaningful memory behind every released tweet. If your total tweet is less than 3200, you get to read every tweet from the first day you joined Twitter!

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  4. How to Browse Your Facebook Like It’s Pinterest [Quicktip]


Source: hongkiat.com

5 Facebook Privacy Settings You Should Know

by M. Dorn on May 6, 2012 · 0 comments

In the midst of all the fun connecting with family and friends via apps, walls, and photo albums on Facebook, we sometimes forget that our privacy is vulnerable on the Net. Every time we share info about ourselves across various networks, it is revealed to everyone even though it is meant only for a select few. As a result, people or organizations outside our network could easily exploit such info about us even without us knowing. Must users be willing to pit having a healthy online social presence against a firm hold of their privacy?

facebook privacy settings 5 Facebook Privacy Settings You Should Know
(Image source: SteveWeigl)

Not to fear though, we have here 5 privacy settings that could help you better manage your privacy while at the same time make your content-sharing experience on Facebook worry-free. Individually, they may not be able to significantly strengthen your privacy defence but adopting most or all of these settings may put your mind at ease even when you have shared more than what you wanted to.

Recommended Reading: Facebook & Your Privacy: Why It Matters

1. Organizing Friend Lists

Following the footsteps of the Google+ Circles concept, Facebook has implemented an improved Friend Lists for its users in September 2011. This feature allows you to effectively customize who can see what in terms of the categories you have placed your ‘Friends’ in. Inevitably though, this means that you would need to tediously organize all your friends into different affiliation groups like Friends, Family, Colleagues, etc before it can come to effect.

facebook friend list 5 Facebook Privacy Settings You Should Know

After you have set up your several friend lists, you can now define the privacy policies which you wish to apply to each of them. For instance, you might want to prevent your “Colleagues” friends from seeing any photos you had and will upload, but allow your “Friends” and “Family” to see them. This, along with restriction of contact details, wall posts or other updates, can be done when you tweak the settings within each group.

You are also now able to put in any new friends you’ve added into whichever category you want to. One thing to note is that if you place a friend into two categories like “Colleagues” and “Friends”, your privacy setting will be set to the more restrictive category. This means that if you restrict your “Colleagues” list from seeing your photos, then this friend whom you’ve put into the two groups will follow the privacy setting of “Colleagues”. He or she will not be able to access your photos.

2. Hiding from Facebook Search

Don’t like people to come add you to their Friend List? If you don’t list your user account into the Facebook search directory, then these people would not be able to find you there. How do you do that?

facebook how you connect 5 Facebook Privacy Settings You Should Know

Well, all you need to do is to go into your privacy settings page and click on ‘Edit Settings’ on the right of ‘How You Connect’. Once there, just switch the ‘Everyone’ to either ‘Friends of Friends’ or just ‘Friends’. It’s the equivalent of disappearing off the face of the realm of Facebook.

3. Hiding from Public Search Engines

Aside from Facebook Search, the other place some people would want to hide themselves from the public is search engines like Google, Yahoo!, etc. In fact, it makes sense for people who remove themselves from the Facebook Search directory to hide themselves from these search engines where users and non-users alike can search them by name.

facebook public search 5 Facebook Privacy Settings You Should Know

If you don’t want people to even have a glimpse of your Facebook profile on the Web, then you just have to click on ‘Edit Settings’ beside ‘Apps and Websites’. After which, edit the settings for ‘Public Search’ and you will go into a page where you have the option of seeing a preview of what others could see if they search for your Facebook account. This is also where you can simply uncheck ‘Enable public search’ and you are off the grid just like that.

4) Hiding Wall Posts

You can decide what you want to post on your wall, be it your most intimate secret, complaints about work or even philosophical musings. However, you can’t control what your friends want to post on your wall. Some of your friends may have a tendency to write things on your wall that you’d rather not let others see, like your relationship problems, financial troubles, etc. If you have some of these people on your list, you would be glad to know that you can customize who can see what others post on your wall.

facebook wall privacy 5 Facebook Privacy Settings You Should Know

Go to your privacy settings page once again, and click on ‘Edit Settings’ beside ‘Timeline and Tagging’. There are two ways you can configure your wall posts settings. One is to restrict anyone but yourself from posting anything on your wall. For this, you should look beside ‘Who can post on your timeline’ and choose either ‘Friends’ or ‘No One’. The other one below, ‘Who can see what othres post on your timeline’, is pretty self-explanatory as well, and it affords for greater depth of customization.

5) Instant Personalization

Many of us are aware of online companies data mining and selling our demographics and profiles to marketers. Most of us hate them. Should you be unaware of this feature, this might give you butterflies in your stomach. Instant Personalization grants certain websites access to your public profile information when you visit them. What these sites do is that they adjust their web contents to suit your wants and needs, thus creating a personalized experience.

You may feel uncomfortable visiting places where such services can extract and openly use your personal information and details, even if it is to improve user experience.

enable instant personalization 5 Facebook Privacy Settings You Should Know

If you are, you can easily turn off this feature by going to the privacy settings page and click on ‘Edit Settings’ under ‘Apps and Websites’ and then ‘Edit Settings’ under ‘Instant personalization’. Just uncheck ‘Enable instant personalization on partner websites’ and get peace of mind.

One More: Info Accessible Through Your Friends

There are certain information which you wouldn’t want to reveal to your friends on your list under your Facebook profile page. Also, these information about you which they can see are sometimes used by apps to enhance the social experience. If you want to keep your privacy on such matters, you can select what you wish to reveal and what you don’t.

How people bring your info to apps 5 Facebook Privacy Settings You Should Know

After you got into the privacy settings page, go to ‘Edit Settings’ under ‘Apps and Websites’. Next, choose ‘Edit Settings’ beside ‘How people bring info to apps they use’ and you’ll see a list of boxes of personal info categories for you to check or uncheck to indicate which are the ones you don’t mind showing.

Conclusion

I hope that these 7 Facebook settings will help you store your private details from prying eyes. If you have other settings you know of to add to the list, sound off in the comments section below. Thanks in advance!

Related posts:

  1. Facebook & Your Privacy: Why It Matters
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  3. Essential Facebook Etiquette: 10 Dos and Don’ts
  4. How to View Facebook Photos, Pinterest Style [Quicktip]


Source: hongkiat.com

How to Design Websites that Communicate Across Cultures

by M. Dorn on May 5, 2012 · 0 comments

There’s nothing as exciting as the theoretical possibility of reaching tens of millions of people all over the world with one single website.
In reality, chances are that, apart from some global phenomenon, most websites appeal to some countries but don’t appeal to others. Is there a way to create a website which appeals to all these different countries?

flags of different countries How to Design Websites that Communicate Across Cultures
(Image source: Fotolia)

The answer is yes. At the very least, there are some basic rules to follow, which will help enhance your website’s chances of attracting readers who speak different languages.

1. Define your Website

The worst mistake any content provider can make is to enter different markets with a product which doesn’t have a straightforward personality and hence, doesn’t deliver a clear message. If it doesn’t come across very quickly, that is, what your website is about, it’s quite unlikely that Internet readers from foreign countries will take the time to try to understand it. They will probably just quickly hit the "back" button. As soon as a visitor lands on your website, he/she must be put in the condition of realizing the essence of the website within a mere 30 seconds.

2. Define Your Target Markets

Once you know well what your product is, decide which markets to target. If your website is dedicated to French wine or Persian carpets, market research will provide you with precious information like which country your potential readers would be from. Or you can even go in as a pioneer, choosing to enter a market which is traditionally not very receptive to your type of content/product, but make sure that it is an educated risk that you are taking.

3. Keep the Language as Simple as Possible

The simpler the language you use on your website, the easier it is to be understood by an international audience. This point applies both to websites in just one language (English, most of the time) or to multi-lingual websites. Straightforward, non-idiomatic English that are not full of lingo or word play will be more accessible to an audience that does not have English as its first or second language. Even in the case of a website which provides multi-lingual versions of the content, a text written in plain English will be translated more easily, and at a lower cost.

4. Choose the Right Design

Design implies culture. To get a very quick idea of this simple statement, surf through the different versions of websites of multi-national brands such as the electronics company, Philips. The Dutch website shows a big picture of a northern landscape with soft colours and the presence of a middle-aged man pushing a bike in a park with a relaxed smile on his face: the message is one of tranquillity and a sense of wellbeing.

On the contrary, the Japanese version features two small Facebook icons on either side of the screen and a small central picture with a young Asian man wearing a white shirt and tie, holding an electric razor in a pose which communicates urban dynamism, determination and tight schedules.

philips japanese How to Design Websites that Communicate Across Cultures

It’s evident that the choice of the two different kinds of designs and messages has been made by Philips according to the two different cultures it is targeting.

5. Choose the Right Color

The choice of the right colour for a website is an important matter. We all know very well how colors can influence our instinctive reaction to places, products, even people. We know very well that, for example, many banks choose a blue background for their brand because it communicates a sense of trust. At the same time, we wouldn’t paint our bedroom black or bright red because we are aware that these are not colours which help us to relax, to say the least.

rainbow colors How to Design Websites that Communicate Across Cultures

But when it comes to designing a website which has to tackle international markets, there are more considerations to be take in. Different colours have different meanings to different cultures. For example, while black in western countries is a sign of death, evil and mourning, in China it is the colour of young boys’ clothes. On the other hand, while white in Western culture represents marriage, peace, and medical help or hospitals, in China it stands for death and mourning. So, picking the right colour is not just a matter of appearance, it’s a matter of implicit messages and content.

6. Translation and Lengths

Targeting other countries with your website very often means providing your content in at least one other language.

In this case there are a number of important choices to make. The first and possibly the most important one, regards the type of translation: electronic versus human translator. The first choice comes with two great advantages: it’s quick and it’s free. Just download Google Chrome, a browser which features a built-in translation bar at the top of the page, and click "Translate". The drawback, however, is that mistakes and involuntary humour are a concrete risk. A (good) translator rules out these problems but might affect your costing.

However, there are less expensive options, such as the freelance portals www.peopleperhour.com or the translation website www.proz.com which offer translating peoples at competitive prices. Another possible solution is to start translating only some parts of your website into the second language, keeping the rest in your main language.

proz How to Design Websites that Communicate Across Cultures

In any case, don’t forget that when content is translated into another language, the length of the text changes. So, keeping text separate from graphics is always a very wise move. For this purpose, I strongly recommend using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), which allow the content to be kept separate from page design, and Unicode, the program with which you can switch between over 90 languages and thousands of characters.

A last consideration not to be overlooked is that not every country or every region has a fast broadband connection, so reducing the usage of Flash and heavy graphics to a minimum is recommended.

7. Promote your Website Locally

Social media is still the cheapest way to promote a website, but when your target is another country you might be surprised to find out that there are other options besides Facebook and Twitter.

In fact, there are many national top social platforms in various countries which you can use to promote your website on. Take your pick from the world map of Social Networks.

8. Mind your Tone

Just one more final small suggestion about communication. Apart from the actual languages, different cultures often use a different tone. An American website is very likely to use a much more approachable and direct style than an Arab or Japanese one.

Since you never know how different people from other countries could react to being addressed too informally, a good way to keep on the safe side is definitely to always be polite and respectful.

Conclusion

Keep in mind all of the above-mentioned points and your international adventure will start off on the right foot. When dealing with cross-cultural products, always try to walk in your client’s shoes and be sensitive of their views.

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Source: hongkiat.com

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