Now you can watch jalapeño.com and 😀.ws

You paste jalapeño.com into a form and some tools hand you back xn--jalapeo-9za.com. Or someone sends you the xn-- string and you cannot tell which word it is. Those are the same domain. One spelling is the word people read. The other is punycode, the spelling the registry uses.

Notify.domains now accepts either spelling. They become one watch. Your list, your alerts, and your email show the readable name.

What IDN means

An IDN, an internationalized domain name, is a web address written in something other than plain English letters. That includes Cyrillic, Chinese, Arabic, a mark on a letter, or an emoji.

The domain system still speaks ASCII. The readable name is translated into punycode, which always starts with xn--. jalapeño.com is xn--jalapeo-9za.com. 😀.ws is xn--e28h.ws. You can type either spelling here.

The same translation applies to the ending, not only the name. .онлайн is .xn--80asehdb. .世界 is .xn--rhqv96g. .موقع is .xn--4gbrim. The registry and the browser both use that form.

A registry can still refuse to sell a name. Emoji names are the usual case. We can watch it either way.

A word with an accent

jalapeño.com is an ordinary word with a tilde on the n. The punycode for that exact name is xn--jalapeo-9za.com. Type the word or the code into domain name monitoring. You get one row, titled jalapeño.com.

Search finds it from either spelling. The alert uses jalapeño.com, so you don’t have to decode the string to know which name moved.

An emoji name

😀.ws is the same kind of name. Its punycode is xn--e28h.ws. Type the emoji or the code. The row is titled 😀.ws.

Same outcome as the accented word. Two ways to type it, one watch, the spelling you recognize on the screen.

How to add one

On the homepage, type the name the way you read it and start the trial. If you already have an account, add it on the dashboard. jalapeño.com and xn--jalapeo-9za.com land on the same row. Adding both does not create two watches.

Some registrar panels print only the punycode. If the string starts with xn--, paste it. You don’t need a converter first. The add box takes the code, and it takes the word, including 😀.ws.

Plain names stay plain

A plain name you already watch still looks the same. The name still has to be one we can watch, the same rule as any other name you add. We still don’t register it, bid at auction, or check out for you. We tell you when something on that name changes.

If the name is taken and you are waiting for a way to buy it, that path is the same one in how to get a domain that is already taken.

Who this helps

Anyone watching a brand, a family name, or a product word that uses an accent. Anyone who was handed a punycode string and wants the watch to show the name they recognize.

Questions in-app? Use the chat. We are happy to walk through a specific domain.

Add the name the way you already read it. Try domain monitoring on Notify.domains. Seven-day free trial. No credit card required.