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URLs

Creating consistent and effective URLs

Contents

  • Domains
  • Directories, pages and files
  • URL shortening

Domains

Existing Jisc service should be, and new services must be, on a jisc.ac.uk subdomain*. They should be:

  • Short and ideally one word
  • Multiple words should be combined (no spaces, hyphens or underscores)
  • Either be the name of the thing (eg product, service, legal or trading name) or a complete, unambiguous commonly-understood word or words
    • domainregistry.jisc.ac.uk good
    • hairdressing.jisc.ac.uk good
    • network-overlay-service.jisc.ac.uk bad
    • nos.jisc.ac.uk bad
    • netwoverlay.ac.uk bad

For full details see the domain name policy.

* Due to licensing – being on a jisc subdomain is also a prerequisite for using Stag Sans, our font.

Directories, pages and files

Your urls play an important part in people (and search engines) being able to find your content. All our sites should follow these best practice rules.

  • Use real words – avoid machine generated urls where possible
    • /reports/0B/1f5665/v7SnTD bad
  • Use hyphens for spaces
    • /reports/researchers-of-tomorrow good
    • /reports/researchersoftomorrow bad
    • /reports/researchers_of_tomorrow bad
  • Rely on the full url to provide context – and avoid repeating yourself
    • /rd/projects/building-digital-capability good
    • /rd/rd-projects/research-project-on-building-digital-capability bad
  • Avoid acronyms
  • Don’t be afraid of length if the content is useful
    • /events/open-access-good-practice-26-jul-2016 good
    • /blog/top-tips-for-developing-an-effective-open-access-policy-18-jul-2016 good
    • /events/oagp16 bad

URL shortening – ji.sc

If you need to shorten a URL for print publications contact socialmedia@jisc.ac.uk – they should be able to provide you with a ji.sc shortened url (eg. ji.sc/web-sa)

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