UK vs US English

Switch web site according to UK and US english

[anusha]

Hi

My web site is using by UK and US people. I want my web site content to switch according to user's country. (I don't want redirect user's to two sperate sites)

eg. "color" and "colour" should be change accordingly

Please give me an idea.

Thanks

Anusha

[webcertain]

Hi Anusha,
Unfortunately there isn't any solution (apart from cloaking..). But surely your message to your UK prospects or US prospects are different, so why not build 2 sites targeting each of these markets?
Good luck,
Johann

[mcskoufis]

I would say that the difference does not matter to google in particular. I had the same thoughts on this, but google (and others) send me traffic from US & UK.

The only objection would be how visitors from the US will behave when they see the content written in UK English.

[edited by: BlobFisk at 1:49 pm (utc) on Dec. 20, 2004]

[BonRouge]

... or even how British people feel when they see all that American spelling.

[edited by: BlobFisk at 12:19 pm (utc) on Dec. 17, 2004]
[edit reason] Please remember that WebmasterWorld is culturally neutral. [/edit]

[TheDoctor]

Also, remember that theer arre circumstances in which a British site might appeal to Americans (eg if it would seem "traditional") whilst there are other circumstances in which an American site would appeal to Brits (eg if it would seem "hip").

So why not choose to be whichever would fit your image?

[edited by: BlobFisk at 12:21 pm (utc) on Dec. 20, 2004]

[BlobFisk]

Can we keep this thread on topic please.

The question is about presenting content to audiences from different countries/regions. While there is merit in whether the spelling differences between US and UK English makes a difference to the other audience, let's try and keep it to that.

[PCInk]

Words have been altered by both the Americans and the British, so that both languages now have 'errors' in them when compared to 'original' spellings of English.

If you really believe you need to change to suit the audience, then checking HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE should help. If it contains 'en-gb' send them the English page, otherwise send them the US page.

If your server is on (I believe) Apache, you can also name files such as index.html.en, index.html.fr etc... and the French speakers will get the .fr page when requesting 'index.html' and the English get the .en page. There is probably a different second extension that differentiates between US and GB English.

There is a problem of course; many UK English have their computers set up to the US language - but if any complain, you can tell them that their computer is set up to the US language and that changing the setting will alter your page spellings.

[caine]

I'm of the two site approach. With one built using US words and working on US demographics, and the other working UK english.

Good thing is having two websites seperated by a common langauge targetting regional markets or two websites targetting the english speaking world.