John Deere made a subtle but important change to its global gateway. As shown below, the company moved the gateway into the "sweet spot" of the upper right corner of the Web page.

I'm not sure when this change happened, but I'm glad to see it.

Increasingly, companies are embracing the sweet spot for global navigation. Not only is this one of the most visible locations for the gateway, ti is also becoming one of the most popular locations for the global gateway. As a result, customers are being conditioned to look here first for links to localized Web sites.

This is one of those trends that will only gain momentum in the years ahead. As companies continue to expand the number of localized Web sites they support, global navigation will only grow in importance.

One additional recommendation for John Deere: add a globe icon. It's a minor detail, but one that will increase usability for non-English speakers.