URL principles
We design our URLs to be user-friendly and to follow a consistent, predictable format.
URLs should be clear and unambiguous. They should be easy to read, type and share.
Our URLs should always:
- use only lowercase letters
- use hyphens in place of spaces
- contain no spaces, underscores or any URL-encoded characters
These standards apply to the bath.ac.uk website and its subdirectories and subdomains. Read more about our URL standards.
Domains and subdomains
Our registered domain name is bath.ac.uk.
www.bath.ac.uk
This is the primary domain. All material in this domain is owned by the University of Bath.
The Head of Content Strategy has editorial control, in consultation with the Chief Marketing Office (CMO).
people.bath.ac.uk
This is the subdomain for personal information created by staff and students.
Other subdomains
We only use other subdomains for University services. These include:
Departmental and group URLs
Departments, centres or groups officially passed by Senate and Council have URLs which follow the format:
- 'www.bath.ac.uk/departments/name'
- 'www.bath.ac.uk/groups/name'
Request a top-level URL
Top-level URLs show the page name immediately after the domain name, so are written 'www.bath.ac.uk/name'.
Some University organisations have top-level URLs:
- faculties and schools
- academic and service departments
- institutes
- official research centres and groups
If you think your section should have a top-level URL, email web-support@bath.ac.uk to request one. The Head of Content Strategy and the Development Manager will review your request.
If you want an alternative URL for a research group or project, use our URL shortening service, go.bath.ac.uk
Non-bath.ac.uk URLs
You can only use a non-bath.ac.uk URL if the site is:
- a nationally-funded Jisc service
- project-funded with multiple partners
- intended to be a commercial spin-off
- targeted at commercial customers and not a .ac.uk domain
The Head of Digital, in consultation with the Vice-President (External Relations), considers and approves requests on a case-by-case basis.