There's a word in Spanish my server doesn't understand

Thursday, February 7, 2008, 11:18 PM
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Buscar... it's an interesting word. It's Mexicanese version of "Search". It is also an important word if your website has any significant amount of Spanish language content on it.

I was surprised to see that my web stats package, when processing search queries, no lo comprende que "buscar" es el mismo typo como "search". Of course I obfuscate that in Spanglish because... well, I have issues. My apologies for butchering a language that doesn't belong to me -- I've been listening to Molotov lately, and learning Spanish from them is about the same as learning carpentry from a monkey brandishing a chainsaw.

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More on-topic... I don't know why, but it just strikes me that a web server built by GoDaddy, a company based in Scottsdale, Arizona, would have some kind of Spanish-language support in handling web stats. So, if a Spanish language search engine uses "buscar" in its choice of CGI queries, those go untallied by my web stats as searches.

Maybe I'm just being snotty, but I'd like to see what folks are buscando on my websites.

I know for most readers of this blog this will be a minor inconvenience not being able to tally Spanish language queries to their websites, but I still thought it was a bit limiting.

At some point I need to build my own log analyzer anyhow. Obviously, one more thing to toss in there would be Spanish language support. Of course, if I do that, how long will it be before people request I open source it and add support for Micronesian pidgin English?

Just a matter of time.

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Welcome!

Wonder where to start with your web design business?

This blog follows along with my efforts to build and grow a website design business, Pro Content and Design.

The goal of this blog is to fill in blanks that may be empty as you get your business rolling.

This blog, particularly the source code section, is not intended for beginners. If you are not comfortable with databases, Ajax, DOM objects and other advanced methods, I strongly suggest you go take a look over at W3 Schools before even reading -- let alone tinkering with -- any of the code here.

I hope this blog has some value to web designers as they attempt to get their businesses going.

Good luck, and happy reading.

Thank you,
John Crawford
Pro Content and Design