simple setup for allowing visitors to choose their country

[Nicole]

Hi

I need to be able to change the currency and some form fields displayed on
my website depending on where the visitor is based. I don't need a fully
functional cart, just a kinda either display '$10' or '£7' sort of thing!

I was planning on having a map on my opening screen with hotspots over the
countries. On the links for the hot spots I was planning to have something
like href="functions .php?FuncToExec =countrySelectU S"> in the functions.php i
was going to set a session variable to the country ie 'US' and then
automatically move to my normal page. Then in my forms etc I was planning on
using if statements to select price etc.

This seems rather long winded! Is it the right way to do it?
Thanks for any help given
NO

[John Bokma]

Re: simple setup for allowing visitors to choose their country

"Nicole" <nickywebsterjo hns@yahoo.co.uk > wrote:
[color=blue]
> Hi
>
> I need to be able to change the currency and some form fields
> displayed on my website depending on where the visitor is based. I
> don't need a fully functional cart, just a kinda either display '$10'
> or '£7' sort of thing![/color]

How many currencies?
[color=blue]
> I was planning on having a map on my opening screen with hotspots over
> the countries.[/color]

World map? Are you going to support them all? Is every visitor able to find
his/her country on this map?
[color=blue]
> On the links for the hot spots I was planning to have
> something like href="functions .php?FuncToExec =countrySelectU S"> in the
> functions.php i was going to set a session variable to the country ie
> 'US' and then automatically move to my normal page. Then in my forms
> etc I was planning on using if statements to select price etc.[/color]

php -> use a hash with the key the currency code, and the value the
conversion rate. If the key is undefined, report "bad currency", don't fix
it to a default (you might overlook a bug that way).

--
John Perl SEO tools: http://johnbokma.com/perl/
or have them custom made
Experienced (web) developer: http://castleamber.com/

[Miguel Cruz]

Re: simple setup for allowing visitors to choose their country

Nicole <nickywebsterjo hns@yahoo.co.uk > wrote:[color=blue]
> I need to be able to change the currency and some form fields displayed on
> my website depending on where the visitor is based. I don't need a fully
> functional cart, just a kinda either display '$10' or '£7' sort of thing!
>
> I was planning on having a map on my opening screen with hotspots over the
> countries.[/color]

That'll be popular with people from Singapore, Monaco, etc.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos from 38 countries on 5 continents: http://travel.u.nu
Latest photos: Burma; Hong Kong; Macau; Amsterdam; Grand Canyon; Amman

[www.1-script.com]

Re: simple setup for allowing visitors to choose their country

Nicole wrote:

[color=blue]
> Hi[/color]
[color=blue]
> I need to be able to change the currency and some form fields displayed
> on
> my website depending on where the visitor is based. I don't need a
> fully
> functional cart, just a kinda either display '$10' or '£7' sort of
> thing![/color]


I think the right way to do that would be using the GeoIP PHP API:

http://www.maxmind.com/app/php

This way you don't have to ask, just give them the custom layout based on
their IP Address. Not without its limitations, but think about
human-induced error factor: it is highly unlikely that you will get an
honest answer from a visitor coming from Russia, India, China or any other
place that online retailers don't like much. They know for the fact that
they will be treated badly and maybe even denied access to the site, so
why bother answering this question honestly? It's so easy to just pick
U.S.A. from the list you've provided.

--
Cheers,
Dmitri
See Site Sig Below
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[Nicole]

Re: simple setup for allowing visitors to choose their country

Hiya

As I said its a simple solution that needed. I wont be supporting all
countries, only the English speaking countries that I choose in the future
to do marketing in.

So small countries are not an issue, neither are countries such as china
etc.

I am trying to implement the idea, but cant seem to get my function executed
from the hyper link :(

N

"www.1-script.com" <info_at_1-script_dot_com@ foo.com> wrote in message
news:S0d7f.1862 09$cw3.36315@fe 01.news.easynew s.com...[color=blue]
> Nicole wrote:
>
>[color=green]
>> Hi[/color]
>[color=green]
>> I need to be able to change the currency and some form fields displayed
>> on
>> my website depending on where the visitor is based. I don't need a
>> fully
>> functional cart, just a kinda either display '$10' or '£7' sort of
>> thing![/color]
>
>
> I think the right way to do that would be using the GeoIP PHP API:
>
> http://www.maxmind.com/app/php
>
> This way you don't have to ask, just give them the custom layout based on
> their IP Address. Not without its limitations, but think about
> human-induced error factor: it is highly unlikely that you will get an
> honest answer from a visitor coming from Russia, India, China or any other
> place that online retailers don't like much. They know for the fact that
> they will be treated badly and maybe even denied access to the site, so
> why bother answering this question honestly? It's so easy to just pick
> U.S.A. from the list you've provided.
>
> --
> Cheers,
> Dmitri
> See Site Sig Below
> -------------------------------------
>
>
>
> --
> ##-----------------------------------------------##
> Article posted with Web Developer's USENET Archive
> http://www.1-script.com/forums
> Web and RSS gateway to your favorite newsgroup -
> alt.comp.lang.p hp,alt.php,alt.www.webmaster,comp.lang.php - messages and
> counting!
> ##-----------------------------------------------##[/color]

[Gordon Burditt]

Re: simple setup for allowing visitors to choose their country

>I think the right way to do that would be using the GeoIP PHP API:[color=blue]
>
>http://www.maxmind.com/app/php
>
>This way you don't have to ask, just give them the custom layout based on
>their IP Address.[/color]

That's great to determine a DEFAULT, but let the user override it.
People do occasionally visit other countries. People could access
the Internet via international long-distance calls. And GeoIP is
far from perfect in determining how an international company allocates
its IP addresses within its own network (information which they
may consider proprietary).
[color=blue]
>Not without its limitations, but think about
>human-induced error factor: it is highly unlikely that you will get an
>honest answer from a visitor coming from Russia, India, China or any other
>place that online retailers don't like much.[/color]

This was supposed to be a way of displaying things in the correct
currency, NOT a security measure to exclude people.
[color=blue]
>They know for the fact that
>they will be treated badly and maybe even denied access to the site, so
>why bother answering this question honestly? It's so easy to just pick
>U.S.A. from the list you've provided.[/color]

And if they like looking at prices in US dollars, that's perfectly fine.
They may not be able to spend their own country's currency outside
that country anyway, and they may end up having to pay in US dollars.

Gordon L. Burditt

[Toby Inkster]

Re: simple setup for allowing visitors to choose their country

Nicole wrote:
[color=blue]
> I was planning on having a map on my opening screen with hotspots over the
> countries.[/color]

How do you expect Americans to use that?

--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
Contact Me ~ http://tobyinkster.co.uk/contact

[R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah]

Re: simple setup for allowing visitors to choose their country

Nicole wrote:[color=blue]
> I need to be able to change the currency and some form fields displayed on
> my website depending on where the visitor is based. I don't need a fully
> functional cart, just a kinda either display '$10' or '£7' sort of thing![/color]

Looks wrong. Every currencies have different weightage. Say, for
example 1Euro~55INR while 1USD~45INR.
[color=blue]
> I was planning on having a map on my opening screen with hotspots over the
> countries.[/color]
<snip>

If supporting many countries, better not use the map at all. For
example, India has different versioned map: Indian version of India,
Pakistan version of India, CIA version of India, etc. So, there are
more chances that it will hurt anyone of them when you prefer one map.
(FYI, M$ had to touch their map of India in Win 95, IIRC).
[color=blue]
> This seems rather long winded! Is it the right way to do it?[/color]

Better, look at other CMS source codes and implementation, esp one
with all these supports.

--
<?php echo 'Just another PHP saint'; ?>
Email: rrjanbiah-at-Y!com Blog: http://rajeshanbiah.blogspot.com/

[Miguel Cruz]

Re: simple setup for allowing visitors to choose their country

www.1-script.com <info_at_1-script_dot_com@ foo.com> wrote:[color=blue]
> I think the right way to do that would be using the GeoIP PHP API:
>
> http://www.maxmind.com/app/php
>
> This way you don't have to ask, just give them the custom layout based on
> their IP Address. Not without its limitations, but think about
> human-induced error factor: it is highly unlikely that you will get an
> honest answer from a visitor coming from Russia, India, China or any other
> place that online retailers don't like much. They know for the fact that
> they will be treated badly and maybe even denied access to the site, so
> why bother answering this question honestly? It's so easy to just pick
> U.S.A. from the list you've provided.[/color]

One thing that really annoys me about Google is that when I use it from
another country, it redirects me to the "local" version and presents itself
in a language that more often than not, I can't understand. Then I have to
go in and set the language preferences for google.com.th or whatever - it
neither picks up on the setting I have for google.com, nor presents a
language option right on the main page.

Making bold yet inflexible guesses about people's preferences is quite often
a bad idea. It would be fine to present a recommended country selection, but
to insist on one based on IP address seems like a poor option.

Not to mention, of course, the unreliability of the practice in the first
place. If you look at the headers of my post you might think I'm in
Washington, DC, but I'm actually in Kuala Lumpur, some 10000 miles away.
There are proxy servers, corporate networks and VPNs, and all sorts of other
confounding factors.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos from 38 countries on 5 continents: http://travel.u.nu
Latest photos: Burma; Hong Kong; Macau; Amsterdam; Grand Canyon; Amman