---
comments: true
date: 2010-02-04 15:44:17
layout: post
slug: upside-down-domainsregistering-an-international-domain-name
title: Upside down domains—registering an international domain name
wordpress_id: 672
categories:
- Web Development
tag:
- Domains
---

Earlier today I registered the domain [http://ʎɹɹɐɥ.com](http://ʎɹɹɐɥ.com). Or did I? Upon reading [an article by Sam Brown](http://sam.brown.tc/entry/417/how-to-register-an-international-domain-name), which in turn linked to [an article by John Sutherland](http://sneeu.com/blog/2010/1/how-register-international-domain-name/) explaining how to register such domains, I wanted one. There are a few levels to this trickery. There's the 'Oh I totally understand how this works!', or there's the 'I don't want to know how it works, I just want it!' level.





## I just want one!




Okay, I didn't actually register` http://ʎɹɹɐɥ.com/`, I registered what you might call its alias: `http://xn--jna6b0ca7h.com`. So, by that token, you find the upside down version of your domain (mine being `harry`) via this [upside down letter converter](http://www.sevenwires.com/play/UpsideDownLetters.html), paste the result (mine being `ʎɹɹɐɥ`) into [this IDN converter](http://mct.verisign-grs.com/conversiontool/) and add whatever domain extension (mine being .com) to the resulting string (mine being `xn--jna6b0ca7h`). You then register the outcome, and you can access it via the upside down version! `http://ʎɹɹɐɥ.com/` is just an alias of `http://xn--jna6b0ca7h.com/` in a sense...





If you view the source of this page you'll see the markup actually links to `http://ʎɹɹɐɥ.com/` but resolves to `http://xn--jna6b0ca7h.com/` in the status bar when you hover it.





## I want details!




If you want to actually understand the technicalities behind it, you ought to read the two articles linked previously.





## Why would I need this?




You don't, but it is cool, right? Although, you could use it as a pretty nifty short-URL for your blog on Twitter like Daring Fireball's awesome [http://?df.ws](http://?df.ws) one.





### Which leads me on to...




You don't have to have an upside down domain, you can use glyphs in there too. Grab some glyphs from [CopyPasteCharacter](http://copypastecharacter.com/) and pop those into the converter too.





### Registering your domain




This is not a plug...




I've heard reports of people being asked about languages for the IDNs from their registrar of choice. I went with [Heart Internet](http://www.heartinternet.co.uk/) and registered `http://xn--jna6b0ca7h.com/` no trouble, just as if it was a regular domain.





Be sure to comment it you buy/have bought one yourself.