View source for IDN : Internationalized domain name

===What is IDN ?===

An [http://en.francedns.com/domain/idn-domain-names.html Internationalized Domain Name] is a domain name that may contain characters that are not defined by the ASCII standard. These characters are, the common accented letters in many European languages, as well as other characters which do not belong to the Latin alphabet, including Arabic or Cyrillic.

Technically accented characters can not be used in DNS, which is why every IDN is encoded as a string of non-accented character whose shape is called ACE. In the latter, the domain names begin with XN - to differentiate unaccented domain names.

===How IDN are supported ?===

For IDN to work you must use compatible software. The most recent versions support IDNs but here is a list of compatible versions:

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'''WINDOWS'''
<div style="margin-left:50px">
*Firefox 0.6 and >
*Internet Explorer 5.0 and >
+ i-NavTM plug-in
*Internet Explorer 7 and >
*Mozilla 1.4 and >
*Netscape Navigator 7.1 and >
*Opera 7.11 and >

*Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express + i-NavTM plug-in

*Chrome 1.0 and >
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</td>
<td width="400px">
'''Mac OS X'''
<div style="margin-left:50px">
*Camino Version: 0.7 and >
*Firefox 0.6 and >
*Mozilla 1.4 and >
*Netscape Navigator 7.1 and >
*Opera 7.11 and >
*Safari 1.2 and >
*Chrome 1.0 and >
</div>  
</td>
<td width="400px">
'''LINUX'''
<div style="margin-left:50px">
*Epiphany 1.2.2 and > (Gnome)
*Firefox 0.6 and >
*Galeon 1.3.14 and > (Gnome)
*Konqueror 3.2 and > (KDE)
*Mozilla 1.4 and >
*Netscape Navigator 7.1 and >
*Opera 7.11 and >
*Mutt 1.4.1 and >
*Chrome 1.0 and >
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>



===Registration of accented domain names in FranceDNS?===

FranceDNS allows you to register domain names with all allowed characters in the following extensions:

Switzerland  .CH - [https://www.nic.ch/reg/cm/wcm-page/faqs/idn.jsp;jsessionid=HFU7zSMSTA7WKRDZyy0vQ2iZ?lid=en 32 accented characters]

Zone Europe  .EU - [http://www.eurid.eu/en/get-eu/why-eu-good-business/domain-names-special-characters-idns/supported-characters List of supported characters]

France  .FR - 30 accented characters: ß à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ñ ò ó ô õ ö ù ú û ü ý ÿ œ

Belgium  .BE - 33 accented characters: ß à á â ã ó ô þ ü ú ð ä å ï ç è õ ö ÿ ý ò æ é ê ë ì í ø ù î û ñ œ

Luxembourg  .LU - 17 accented characters: ä ö ü à â æ ç è é ê ë î ï ô ù û œ

Generic  .COM, .BIZ, .INFO, .NET, .ORG - All accented characters


When ordering, you can specify the domain name in its accentuated form or in its ACE form. Our IDN conversion tool available on this page allows to determine the encoding of the domain name in his or IDN or ACE form.