TABLE OF CONTENTS To attract and capture a Web consumer, a number of design and engineering techniques can be employed. In the case of a global Web application, identifying the locale and preferences of the customer is required in order to provide content that is tailored to their language and culture. The traditional approach to Web globalization uses the identified locale and customer preferences to present and express information in a personalized manner. Personalization and usability enable customers to feel almost as if they are interacting directly with representatives of the business during Web site visits. However, attracting and capturing an international customer are not the only challenges of Web site globalization. Of equal importance is the ability to obtain globally diverse customer data, process global business transactions, and integrate global business data with more traditional enterprise data. Addressing these additional data-oriented challenges requires a conceptual separation of presentation from data.
When considering consumer-oriented Web applications, presentation is a combination of visual and audio content, along with navigation and usability characteristics. Presentation of information will most often originate from the business enterprise, and will be expressed using the Web site. Presentation content will generally include product and service descriptions, marketing information, advertising, business enterprise information, company contact information, reference and informational data, and recreational data. In a B2C application, presentation is aligned with the identified locale and customer preferences of the target audience. Presented content is generally for use and consumption by the Web user or customer.
