URL policy
The URL policy defines the framework of our web-based infrastructure. The aim is to ensure that web-based information and services are structured in a way that provides the most effective access to information for our target audience.
Principles
Domains
It is our policy that the number of domains should be as limited as possible: bath.ac.uk is the registered domain name; the main domains are:
- www.bath.ac.uk - the primary domain. All material extant in this domain is made available in the name of the University and editorial control will be largely determined by a group consisting of Communications and Web Services staff.
- people.bath.ac.uk - the domain for personal information on members of staff and the student body.
- Other domains will only be used for University services; examples include webmail.bath.ac.uk, search.bath.ac.uk and wiki.bath.ac.uk.
Departmental and group URLs
- Departmental and official centre or group (passed by Senate and Council) URLs will exist immediately under the main domains, in other words: www.bath.ac.uk/departmentname or www.bath.ac.uk/centrename
- (Non-approved) research groups and/or projects are advised to use our URL shortening service, go.bath.ac.uk
URLs should always be all lower-case letters and contain no spaces, underscores or any URL-encoded characters.
Non bath.ac.uk URLs
Non-bath.ac.uk URLs are only acceptable when the 'service' is either:
- a nationally-funded JISC service or
- project-funded with multiple partners or
- is intended to be a commercial spin-off or
- targetted outside ac.uk domain for commercial customers
* Complete the form to request a non-Bath URL NB: Requests will only be actioned following approval from the Vice-Chancellor's Group (VCG) *
Strategy and control
All matters of strategy and control relating to web-based infrastructures will be determined by Web Services in liaison with Computing Services.
Policy revision
This policy is considered to be a "live" document and therefore the subject of revision at any time as determined by the Office of Policy and Planning.
Terminology
The term "URL" (Uniform Resource Locator) refers to a web address used to identify a particular resource on the University of Bath web server. This is used interchangeably even when the term "URI" (Uniform Resource Identifier) may be more technically correct.
