Awareness of global web design standards 'growing'

17/07/2008

International organisations are increasingly getting to grips with the importance of maintaining a high standard of web design when running multiple online properties around the world.

This is according to John Yunker of Byte Level Research, who noted in a recent Lionbridge Technologies-sponsored webinar that companies are becoming savvier when it comes to keeping the corporate brand consistent across different websites while also catering for the needs of specific geographies.

He gave the example of cosmetics firm Avon Products, whose China and Spain sites previously looked like they were for two different organisations, but now utilise the same layout and visual design scheme while being obviously different websites, SearchCIO.com reports.

Mr Yunker added: "One thing I always emphasise, as important as global consistency is, it should not be so restrictive that the local offices don't have the freedom to promote locally relevant products and still have a design they feel works with their market."

A recent piece of research conducted by IDC suggested that almost a quarter of the world's population will be online by the end of the year, rising to 30 per cent in 2012.