Author: Comunicació

How to register a domain name written with special characters

Posted on by Comunicació

Every language has its linguistic differences. Like most European languages, Catalan has several special characters such as accents and the dieresis, and others such as the Ç and the interpunct.

We use these in writing, yet these characters can’t initially be used when registering a domain name or an email address. This means that we find examples such as a website for a calçotada becomes a calcotada, or a company advertising decoració uses the word decoracio, without the special character.

This does not happen with the .barcelona domain, as it accepts a long list of special characters. The name of your .barcelona domain can therefore be written just as it is with your project, meaning people can find you writing the right name and that it doesn’t appear strange to read. Examples here might include registering domains with names such as ràdio.barcelona, habitació.barcelona or abraçada.barcelona.

IDN and ASCII

Domain names which include special characters are called Internationalized Domain Names (IDN). They include characters outside the standard range for the exchange of information, the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), which is the language used by the internet. As ASCII does not include accents or other characters from Arabic, Slavic, Asian or other languages, excluding a huge part of the world’s population, the need arose for internet addresses to be able to ‘speak’ in the way that their users do. The inclusion of these characters was proposed in 1998, but it wasn’t until 2005 that they were publicly presented by the ICANN.

The new characters have not actually been added to ASCII code, which the network continues to function with, but rather an algorithm transforms the IDN characters into ASCII. That’s why when we register a domain name with accents and special characters, we are also registering another at the same time with the standards for ASCII code.

Either way, IDN gives us more flexibility and freedom when it comes to choosing our .barcelona domain, meaning we can write using the characters of our language and in turn show the value of our identity.

To register a .barcelona domain with special characters, the holder must contact their registration company to request it. The registration company must do this at no charge, as it forms part of the particular characteristics of this domain.

BCN Market’s got the dot!

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The new online shop for city establishments, BCN Market, went live with a .barcelona domain and is now fully operative.

The website is a virtual shop window for neighbourhood commerce, facilitating sales both online and in person and enabling customers to see the product catalogues for all establishments, reserve and purchase items from home which can then be collected from the premises or home-delivered.

This open and collaborative platform between establishments has the aim of generating physical and online traffic for local businesses, helping local people find what they are looking for in city shops and provide an alternative to large online sales sites.

In addition, the BCN Market website allows users to download the Bonus Consum, 280,000 vouchers of 20 euros each which can be exchanged at local shops, services and restaurants until 31 December, and where the interested party pays 10 euros and the City Council pays the other 10 euros. These vouchers are being promoted jointly with Barnacom (the organisation which groups together the city’s shopping hubs under Barcelona Comerç and Barcelona Oberta), Comertia, Pimec, Foment del Treball, the Gremi de Restauració, the Agrupament de Botiguers i Comerciants de Catalunya and the Gremi d’Hotels de Barcelona.

Main topics for the GeoTLD meeting

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Frankfurt hosted a meeting for the members of the GeoTLD group on 9 September, adopting a hybrid virtual and on-site format due to the pandemic.

The meeting was used to present and discuss the latest on the next round of GeoTDL requests, as well as to exchange opinions on the relationship and cooperation between registers and different departments of the ICANN. The meeting concluded with a session on the abuse of DNS (Domain Name Systems) and cybersecurity.

These meetings are fundamental for members of the GeoTLD group to be able to exchange impressions in an enriching way, particularly on their goals and on the point where each of them is at.

A geoTLD is a top-level domain which represents communities of a cultural, linguistic or social nature with a strong and specific geographical presence. Members include the domain .scot, .cat, .eus and .gal, as well as city domains such as .sydney, .stockholm and .barcelona.

“Design can improve people’s lives”

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We interviewed Cristina Gosálvez, head of communication with the FAD, a leading organisation in the design sector in Barcelona and at a national level which has opted for a .barcelona domain as one of the main elements of its digital identity strategy.

What is the FAD and what does it do?

The FAD (Fostering Arts and Design) is a non-profit organisation which was founded in 1903 and is made up of design professionals and companies.

At the FAD we believe that design can improve people’s lives. That’s why we devote our resources to the promotion of creative culture, support for new generations and the stimulation of excellence in product design, architecture, fashion, graphic design, visual communication, crafts and the arts in general, through activities aimed at these professional groups and the public alike.

We also have a centre for advanced materials, the MATERFAD, which provides a service for professionals from the spheres of design, architecture and the arts, as well as companies looking to innovate towards sustainability with advanced materials and tech. The centre also provides training on materials for all these groups and for students from university schools.

The FAD is made up of five different associations. Why do they work together and what is the purpose of this union between the five of them?

Historically the FAD has had sectoral sections and groups, firstly within applied arts, music and theatre, and later, from the 1960s, when design was introduced in the country, the different disciplines of design. Today this union of associations and sectors of disciplines makes more sense than ever, as the disciplines inevitably interconnect and the boundaries between them disappear: craft and industrial design, the latter with architecture and interior design, communication and fashion are intrinsically linked to one another etc. The FAD offers a unique opportunity for its members to be able to get to know professionals from disciplines which are different and yet related, and we organise cross-disciplinary activities which include various or all of them. We are still open to new professionals from other creative disciplines joining up and interconnecting with those we have.

At present the FAD combines the Artists and Artisans’ Association (A-FAD), the Art Directors and Graphic Designers’ Association (ADG-FAD), the Industrial Design Association (ADI-FAD), the Interdisciplinary Association of Space Design (ARQUIN-FAD) and the FAD Fashion Community (MODA-FAD).

How important is digitalisation within your business? What channels to you use and how to you communicate with customers?

Digitalisation is a process which the FAD has pursued from the outset and the organisation has adapted to new technologies in parallel with the advances of the last twenty years. The website has been the heart of the organisation for some years now and is used to distribute information through the different digital channels, particularly social media. Getting the information to reach the target audience is the cornerstone for an entity which organises activities and offers information and services, and today everybody looks for and finds information on the internet, so in this respect this is a very clear option.

In the last year, with the pandemic, the on-site activities we organised were shifted online. Some of them will stay there forever because we’ve seen that they are effective in his format, but we continue to opt for face-to-face activity and contact as a way of relating to others. You can find the information on the internet today, but what you can learn from personal contact with a person of reference in your field or through a display with real objects cannot be compared. As an association we have to provide that added value.

Besides digital communication channels, we’re working to develop 100% digital and cross-disciplinary projects such as an online supply and demand platform for the creative sector, providers and clients.

What is the link between the FAD and Barcelona, in addition to being based at the Disseny Hub in Glòries?

The FAD was founded in Carrer Hospital in Barcelona in 1903 and since then it has been based in different spaces in the city. Consequently, the bond with the city is absolute, even though the organisation doesn’t limit its sphere of action to Barcelona. We have members all over Spain and even in other countries, and in this respect we want to keep growing.

Did you choose the .barcelona domain from the start of your business? Why did you choose .barcelona and what advantages does it offer you?

The fad.barcelona domain was not the first step, because our original website was created well before the .barcelona and .cat domains appeared, when practically the only domains in use were .com, .es and .org. The first FAD domain was therefore fadweb.org.

At present we have two domains, fad.barcelona and fad.cat. The .barcelona domain was a natural step, as we are an organisation which is well known for its link with the city. With FAD a well-used word in the English-speaking world and an acronym for various institutions around the globe, we’ve opted to link ourselves to Barcelona with our domain and our social media alike, to set us apart from other International organisations.

At the same time, Barcelona is known internationally for its links with design and architecture. The FAD, as a leading association for these disciplines in the country, and the oldest, has contributed throughout its history to make this possible. Now, in turn, what interests us is to be linked to our city, and what better way than with a .barcelona domain?

La Mercè’s got the dot!

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The city will be celebrating its local festival on 23, 24, 25 and 26 September, with this year’s event marking a hundred and fifty years since the City Council took charge of the festivities for La Mercè.

The Festes de la Mercè website, now with its own .barcelona domain, will be offering a programme with over 500 activities this year. These include the shows in the street arts section, concerts and popular culture activities, with nearly 200 popular culture groups, 110 artistic companies and 114 musical formations all involved.

Opening speech and poster both by women

As usual, the opening speech gets La Mercè under way. On this occasion the speaker will be Custodia Moreno Rivero, a leading figure in the local residents’ movement in the city who played an important part in the disappearance of the shanty housing in El Carmel and Can Baró, as well as other struggles.

The poster for this year’s Mercè is by the renowned illustrator Malika Favre, who was born in Paris and is based in Barcelona. This year’s image represents Mercè as a powerful queen who at the same time embodies all the beauty of Barcelona.

A decentralised Mercè which promotes popular culture

La Mercè is once again a citywide affair, reaching corners of the city which were previously untouched by the festivities. Activities are programmed in 23 locations and venues in all, with popular culture also featuring heavily in this historic edition. The section of Passeig de Gràcia between the streets of Diputació and Rosselló will provide a space for popular culture to reconnect with the public, with the parades and fire-runs which were suspended last year being transformed into a commemorative procession featuring giants’ groups, human towers groups and falcon human formation groups.

Safe festival

Full safety measures will be in place for La Mercè, to continue tackling Covid-19. This means controlled numbers of spectators, who will need to book tickets for most activities. For its part, the music and fireworks spectacular will be adopting the same format as last year and can be seen from four points in Barcelona. The display will also be broadcast live by TV3. 

How to renew a domain

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People and businesses build their identity around their name and their values. The same applies online. Our domain name defines us and enables others to recognise us on the internet. Because of this, it’s very important to renew our domain rather than keep registering new ones. This also gives us control over our online brand and means we can be sure it won’t end up in the wrong hands. Keeping our domain name also means we can carry on benefitting from associated services such as email accounts.

But how do we renew a domain?

When the time comes to renew a domain, we should contact our domain registration company. To find out when our .barcelona domain expires, we can go to the user panel and check the expiry date. Once inside the panel, it is important to select the domain we wish to renew, as we may have registered more than one. Once we select the domain we wish to renew, we find the option ‘renew domain’. This is where can choose the duration of the registration period, which may be for one year or longer. The ICANN allows a maximum of ten days for registration. Next, we should confirm the data and pay the quota.

There is no need to wait until the last moment to renew. Even if there are weeks left before it expires, we can renew our .barcelona domain in advance without the registration period being affected. For instance, if the domain expires on 1 January 2022, the next expiry date will be 1 January 2023, regardless of when we renew. This means that if we have a discount code we can make the most of when we want to apply it, whatever the date is.

What happens if the expiry date comes and goes and I haven’t renewed the domain?

Our registration company will usually contact us when the registration period is due to expire. This varies depending on the registration company, but we may be contacted up to 30 days before the domain expires. If for some reason we do not see the reminders, we still have five days after the expiry date in which to renew the domain. After those five days a definitive deactivation process begins and within a few days we will have lost the domain.

This does not mean we lose our domain name forever, but rather that it becomes available again for anybody wishing the register it. Consequently, if we are lucky and nobody registers the domain, we can register it again through the usual new domain registration procedure.

This practice comes with an element of risk, and apart from the possibility of not being able to register it again and losing our digital identity, the renewal process is more straightforward than registering anew.

To avoid headaches, many registration companies offer the possibility of automatic renewals. This mean that unless we indicate otherwise, the registration company will renew our domain every year without our having to think about it.

Can domains be bought and sold?

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At the point we register a domain, we own the rights to use the domain name for a specified period. However, the domain may change hands from one name or organisation to another at any time. Very often the domain registration company does not charge for this.

This leads many people to speculate with domains, registering names which may be needed by other people or organisations at some point, to then sell them on at a profit. Authentic fortunes have changed hands to register domain names, mainly in the early days of the internet.

Domains do not get sold on for millions of dollars nowadays, as there are multiple combinations and most people use search engines such as Google to find an address. Positioning therefore holds the key. Even so, the domain name is still very important and there are always people willing to pay a little more to get the name they had in mind. Many companies have built their brand around a specific name and logically wish to continue using that name online.

Legal limits

Buying and selling domains is not illegal, although some countries prohibit the registration of specific domain names intended to be sold on to a company or person that may have intellectual property rights over them. According to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), one party can contest the registration of a domain name by another party if the name or brand is registered. Non-compliance with the policy can lead to confiscation of the domain name, as well as legal consequences. This ICANN policy was conceived to combat cybersquatting, the practice of deliberately registering domain names corresponding to third parties with the specific intention of making money. In some cases, inappropriate use of these domains can also occur, to damage the brand in question.

That said, buying and selling a domain is not always illegal. When the process represents no harm to third parties it is perfectly feasible. Proof of this is the figure of the domainer, an investor specialising in managing domain-name portfolios which, without entering into illegality, speculates with domain names to make money. The activity of domainers is based on registering generic terms which may be of interest to big brands. Examples here might be ‘car hire’, ‘rural tourism’ or ‘home insurance’.

Domainers come up against some limits with registration policies for certain domains. For instance, if we look at the registration policy for the .barcelona domain we find that these must be registered by legal persons or entities with a link to the .barcelona community. Whether for linguistic, cultural, tourist, commercial or other purposes, this means the activity should benefit the .barcelona community. The party registering the domain should first explain the intended use of the domain name in question. These requisites make for lower levels of speculation with .barcelona domains.

The .barcelona domain joins the international geoTLD group

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Thanks to its participation in this association, the .barcelona domain is better represented in the sector and will be able to exchange experiences and generate transnational projects with other geographical domains.

By becoming one of the 37 members of the geoTLD group in the spring this year, the .barcelona domain forms part of a community of a million active top-level geographical domains which promote the digital identity of regions, languages, cultures and nearly 70 member cities on the internet. The most significant member cities are .berlin, .paris, .london, .tokyo and .madrid, which also joined recently.

This international non-governmental and non-profit association works in the interests of geographical domains as a way of promoting local identities, positively disseminating and sharing their values. It includes governments, organisations, businesses and associations from all around the globe. Chaired by Catalonia’s Nacho Amadoz, head of the Fundació.cat, the geoTLP group is also a hub for the exchange of knowledge, communication and marketing materials and research projects.

This working group is also present in the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), an organisation working to coordinate domains at a global level.

Visit the specific .barcelona domain page on the geoTLD website.

Meet Barcelona’s got the dot!

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The meet.barcelona website has been renewed to emphasise professional perspectives, investment and study opportunities for people visiting the city or wishing to do business here. The revamp comes as part of the ‘Barcelona with you’ campaign.

The communication initiative was launched to coincide with the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2021, which went ahead again having been cancelled last year due to the pandemic. The campaign targets people from around the globe, the idea being to attract talent and investment and strengthen the Barcelona brand.

The initiative uses local and international media, including influential channels such as the Financial Times and The Economist, as well as social media, to generate an impact in different professional spheres. For those visiting the MWC in Barcelona, outdoor digital supports have been set up at strategic points around the city such as the airport, Sants station, the metro in Plaça d’Espanya, the Europa Fira station and other places.

Available in four languages, the meet.barcelona website is aimed at strengthening the city’s international position. It features reasons for visiting Barcelona, working or doing business here, as well as full information on services to help people have a positive experience of the city. 

How to transfer your .barcelona domain

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The register is the central database where all domain names are stored. Access is only available to registration agents accredited by ICANN, a non-profit organisation working to guarantee a stable global internet, from where we must proceed with registration. We can find out through them whether the name we want is available before contracting the use of the domain for a certain period. At present we can register our .barcelona domain through various companies, which compete with each other on pricing, extra services and customer support. Here you can find a full list of accredited registration companies offering the .barcelona domain.

But what if we want to change the registration company without losing our domain? Is that possible? The answer is yes, we can freely transfer the domain name from one registration company to another. ICANN transfer policy is designed to increase domain registration options and foster competition between registration companies.

There is only one main requisite, and that is that 60 days must have elapsed since the date of registration of the last transfer. The expiry of the domain should also be taken into account. The change of registration takes between 5 and 10 days and so if the domain contract is about to expire we might not be in time.

There are four simple steps to transferring a domain name:

  1. Ask your current registration company to unblock the domain and provide the authorisation code.
  2. Give this to the new registration company.
  3. Confirm the transfer of the domain.
  4. Wait a few days until the process is completed.

During this process, and in the days following the change of registration, our .barcelona website should continue to function and there shouldn’t be any technical or bureaucratic issues for us. Both companies, the current provider and the new one, receive notification. This makes the process more transparent and reduces the possibility of fraudulent transfers.

For more information on the policy for domain transfers between ICANN-accredited registration companies click here.