The Russian Working Group on Universal Acceptance has developed and published guidelines on UA implementation in Cyrillic TLDs. The guidelines primarily promote the implementation and widespread use of IDN standards, which were devised by the international community and have existed for more than ten years, in the development of new applications and online services. The document contains technical details and recommendations for software developers planning to implement or having already implemented support for Cyrillic addressing tools using the Russian top-level domains .РФ, .SU, .ДЕТИ, .МОСКВА and .РУС.
“Software developers and owners keep forgetting that users can now register domains in TLDs other than .COM, .NET, .ORG or .RU. Websites and email accounts using Cyrillic script have been in operation for more than a decade in .РФ, .МОСКВА, .РУС, .ДЕТИ and others, as well as in new Latin-script TLDs like .MOSCOW or .PHOTOGRAPHY. This means that such products and services do not provide 100% support for all addressing tools available today, and their owners lose some of their potential customers,” said Maria Kolesnikova, Chair of the Russian Working Group on Universal Acceptance and Chief Analyst at the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ.
The guidelines have been completed and published just in time for the launch of the working group website at https://универсальноепринятие.рф/. The website will publish the working group’s materials and documents, IDN and EAI support standards, and practical information on ensuring universal acceptance. Also, the working group would be happy to welcome new participants interested in developing a truly multilingual internet. The website offers an application form to join the working group.
“The working group began working last year, long before the website was launched. The website will help make our activities more public, and besides that, we would like to share our experience and best practices with a wide audience,” Maria Kolesnikova commented.
The Russian Working Group on Universal Acceptance was established in 2020 by a group of experts on UA, IDN and EAI to assist in the implementation of technical standards to support IDN and EAI, as well as to raise awareness of all interested parties. Employees of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ have been part of the working group since day one.
