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We are currently thinking about designing an Asian specific version of our site. What I would like to ask anybody who is resident in Asia, a native speaker or regular Asian surfer is:
Does the Asian market want/need a garish site with crazy colours and flashing banners, or will a well designed and well translated site work equally well?
I believe that if you offer a quality service, you don't need to give provide flashy gimmicks, or am I wrong for this particular market? I based my assumption on the success of Google, Yahoo etc. who have just provided their same basic web site, but in the native languages. Other people believe that we need a total redesign. Any comments?
Hi there. I am asian and have lived and traveled there most of my life although now I am in Central America. I won't claim to speak for the rest of the folk out there but "crazy colours and flashing banners" would probably have the same effect on an asian than it would on a..well caucasian? :P
In my opinion, the same rules of good design and usability should apply for any site in any language. :)
Good luck!
Whilst it is really hard to generalise, I do find from the time I have spent in Asia that the "Flashy" effect is still very much in vogue. For example, major Chinese cites at the moment are awash with Fireworks type lighting effects right across the country. And you should see inside some of the "clubs" in Shenzhen.
Before the new airport was constructed in Hong Kong on an island away from the main city, it was illegal to have any flashing lights in the city for fear of confusing incoming pilots. Now however....
The main shopping areas of Tokyo are wall to wall neons. Thailand, Philippines, and so on.
True, other cities around the world have their fair share of the "flashy" factor, eg., NYNY, but it does seem more prevelant in Asia in general.
As BelleLeDoux says, good design and usability are important. I think that oges without saying. But I guesss it also depends on your market to a certain extent. Those more familiar with the "raw" internet may possibly like the more, shall we say, austere sites, but the general publis are probably looking for something they are familiar with.
However, that is my opinion only. I would love to hear from others in the area.
BTW, welcome BelleLeDoux. What part of Asia are you from and where have you lived?
Onya
Woz
Does the Asian market want/need a garish site with crazy colours and flashing banners, or will a well designed and well translated site work equally well?
Take a look at this [url=www.docomo-kansai.co.jp/ad/index.html]NTT DoCoMo[/url] site or computer retailer [url=www.twotop.co.jp]TwoTop[/url]...I'm sure I could find better examples if I looked...lots of bright colors and a few flashy things here and there.
However, like BelleLeDoux said, by the way, welcome to WebmasterWorld if you've got a decent design and good info it should work anywhere. I don't think they really need the crazy colors, but they won't mind them either.
I think that the important points to consider would be:
1. What section of the market are you targeting?
2. What industry is your focus?
Although I am pretty sure you have done those already. :)
Maybe you can check the sites and do a cross section for your main countries in the same age group/socio-economic status/audience type. I really think your main hurdle is the language.
Chinese alone...well, theres cantonese, fookien, mandarin..although mandarin might be a safe bet. For Japanese written texts...Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana..
For places like the Philippines and Singapore English should be alright.
Design wise...you can check out these popular Philippine sites:
i-manila.com.ph
pabili.com
penandink.com.ph
Very different from each other of course, because they cater to different groups.
Hope this helps!
Belle
The three Philippine sites are very similar to sites in the English language that I browse everyday.
The two Japanese sites are also comparable to sites from the same sector over here. eg.
TwoTop [twotop.co.jp] = Dabs [dabs.com]
NTT DoCoMo [docomo-kansai.co.jp] = Boo [boo.com] (maybe an unfair comparison!)
My next question is this... 12-18 months ago in the West, there were many flashy, over the top graphical sites that didn't work. These sites are now obsolete or redesigned.
So... In the Far East am I seeing early generation sites that are learning the hard way, and will go the way of the dodo? Will we make the same mistakes that we have learned already with western sites, by copying Asian sites that have yet to learn?
Or are these Asian sites clued up, and well designed with target audience and usability in mind? I have no idea! Don't get me wrong, I'm not thinking with a superior western attitude, I just don't know the market... help!?
In my opinion you will do just as well with a "Western" design as any other. The important thing is to have the content that the user wants, and make it easy to get to all that info. I think that good design & usability are universal in that respect. Don't concern yourself with trying to design for Asia too much, because I could probably show you tons of examples of sites that are starting to look more or less like their Western counterparts.
With a language such as Chinese that reads from right to left, is there any usability advantage in having a right hand menu (aside from the SEO benefits)?
Shorter travel time for your mouse pointer, so when you are scrolling and want to move around to navigate, not a lot to go. And you have mentioned that point about chinese already. :)
With a language such as Chinese that reads from right to left, is there any usability advantage in having a right hand menu (aside from the SEO benefits)?To the best of my knowledge Chinese, like Japanese reads left-to-right (Correct me if I'm wrong on this). In print these languages can be rendered vertically, in which case they would be read right-to-left. Also, I don't think there is much support for directionality in current browser technology . Only [url=www.webmasterworld.com/forum21/491.htm]version 5+ browsers[/url] seem to support dir="rtl" and dir="ltr". I haven't seen vertical text being used for either of there languages on the web (outside GIFs and images).
Regardless, I love the right side navigation purely for usability factors. Most Japanese sites still tend to have left side nav though.
Yes, thanks for jogging my memory on this one Bill. Chinese used to be Right to Left "in olden times" but now is simply Left to Right like the rest of the world, well, most of it anyway.
Some books are published Vertical as you say and I think they look stunning. I have seen some Japanese sites with Vertical text, can't remeber which ones though, and they look stunning as well. Only Classic Chinese literature is still printed Right to Left now.
Interestingly, some of the Israeli Search Engines use Right to Left in Hebrew, and even have the search box reading right to left. Very disconcerting when you are not used to it, expecially if you are typing English.
Onya
Woz
