Guidelines for UK Government websites

Chapter 1: Website management

Internet protocol
The first element of the URL is the protocol; it is the http:// prefix that designates the address as a World Wide Web page rather than an FTP site or email address.

Domain name
The second element, is the fully qualified domain name of a server. By convention, the name usually starts with the prefix www if the machine identified is a web server. But this is not a requirement. Users may also see the prefix ftp (where the machine is also an FTP server). In some cases there will be no prefix to the domain name at all. For example, the UKonline web server may be reached at ukonline.gov.uk as well as www.ukonline.gov.uk.

The prefix www, which is generally interpreted, as an integral part of a domain name is in practice a sub-domain representing the server hosting your website. The actual domain name, such as e-envoy.gov.uk, is registered by the organisation through a naming authority (eg, Nominet.UK) and generally reflects that organisation's name, acronym or a specialist subject area the website is to represent.

The fully qualified domain name is the identifier of the entire website and bears no relationship whatsoever to the organisation hosting the service. This means that the department can move the domain name, at any time, to another service provider without causing problems for the end user.

See section 2.1.2.1 An explanation of the Internet Domain Name Service

Directory and file name
This third section is completely under the control of the organisation's Web manager and is a direct reflection of the site architecture that is decided on.

The use of different levels of directories and sub-directories in the construction of the website will result in this URL becoming longer or shorter. For example, if there were a sub-directory within 'webguidelines' called 'frames' the URL would look like this:

http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/webguidelines/frames/index.htm

An organisation with or planning to have an Internet presence should adopt and exercise a centralised approach on planning the acquisition, management and use of appropriate domain names.

A domain name is intellectual property and accordingly may have both financial and strategic value.

The registration of a .gov.uk domain is undertaken within clearly detailed guidelines. An individual department or agency may wish, as part of a defensive strategy, to consider acquiring other, closely related host names, eg, in the .org, info, .com Top Level Domains. This may reduce the risk of confusingly similar domain names being registered by third parties, thereby leading to confusion amongst Web users. This also reduces the genuine risk of third parties acquiring name for vexatious purposes.

When registering any name you should be aware of the need to avoid infringing existing trademarks and third party business names.

Web managers also should be aware of 'cybersquatting'. This is a practice of buying up domain names reflecting the names of existing organisations with the intention of selling the names back to you or for using them for 'bad faith' purposes, such as, passing off.

See section 1.2.8 Management documentation.

A small number of three and four letter acronyms may be considered as 'household names', eg, HSE, OFTEL. However, to the broad majority of user acronyms are meaningless. Web managers should encourage a 'user focused' approach and register accordingly. For example, host names like education.gov.uk, environment.gov.uk and defence.gov.uk may be considered intuitive and unambiguous to a general user.

The naming of directories should also be carefully considered. For example, your top-level directories may reflect organisational brands, projects or the editorial focus of the website. They should also be unambiguous when spoken and easy to type. As with domain names be aware of the need to avoid infringing trademarks and third party business names. Using the names of well-known people may also present difficulties.

The Welsh Language Board advise that Departments providing a service to the public in Wales should, where there is a difference between their English and Wales names, consider registering Welsh language domain names. For example, www.anglesey.gov.uk and www.ynysmon.gov.uk both lead to Anglesey Country Council's website.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is responsible for the assigning of globally unique identifiers including Internet domain names. Country codes such as, .uk are known as top level domains (ccTLDs) and management of these is delegated to individual country managers. In the UK this is managed by the non-for-profit company NOMINET.UK. The design of the naming structure under a country code rests with the country manager.

The Office of the e-Envoy (OeE) is responsible for the policy governing the .gov.uk domain and for its rules and guidelines. UKERNA administers the .gov.uk domain on behalf of OeE, in providing the name submission, name modification, approval and registration systems for the domain.

These guidelines apply to all new requests for registration of .gov.uk names. Some domain names were registered before the guidelines were laid down. Such names should be regarded as exceptional, and not as setting a precedent.

The registration of .gov.uk names is limited to UK government departments and agencies, local government bodies (including town and parish councils), and other associated and non-departmental public sector organisations and projects. It is not for use by individuals, or by associations representing public sector staff, or by public sector pension funds.

Projects and local authority departments should generally be treated as sub-domains of the parent body eg. housing.authority.gov.uk or project.department.gov.uk.

The acceptance of a name is conditional on that name being used specifically and exclusively for the organisation on whose behalf it is registered. The committee expect that the use of an approved domain name on a web server will lead directly to the home page for that organisation and not to that of its ISP/hosting service or any other agent. Abuse of this principle will result in the name being withdrawn.

Any application for a .gov.uk domain name should be submitted to Janet Customer Services at UKERNA, using the appropriate templates. These are available online at:

The principles for determining what name an organisation may adopt shall be:

• No two character names.
• The name requested shall reflect the legal name or trading name of the organisation.
• The chosen name shall minimise the risk of confusion with other similarly named organisation and avoid the risk of inadvertent masquerading.
• Local authority bodies should avoid using initials wherever possible, as these are generally reserved for central government.
• Three and four letter abbreviations or acronyms (TLAs/FLAs) will be considered only if:
  • the customer is a central Department of State (eg FCO); or
  • the customer is a central government body such that it is generally known by that TLA/FLA within government and to the wider public; or
  • there is no reasonable and meaningful alternative.
    
• The Domain Naming Approvals Committee will be the final arbiter of what is considered to be an acceptable TLA/FLA.
• Project names may be registered where they are pan-departmental or of national significance, eg to facilitate 'joined-up government'.
• Generic names should be avoided for local or intradepartmental initiatives, and used only for genuinely pan-governmental activities sponsored by the Office of the e-Envoy or the Prime Minister's Office.
  

Requests for registration stand a greater chance of quick acceptance if they follow the following conventions:

• Civil Service departments in Northern Ireland, because they mirror departments in Whitehall, are required to use the suffix '-ni'.
• Local authorities may generally use the format "area.gov.uk", unless there is the possibility of confusion with another authority (eg city and county).
• The following optional suffixes may be used (with or without the hyphen):
  • '-bc' Borough Council
  • '-cc' County Council
  • '-dc' District Council
  • '-mbc' Metropolitan Borough Council
  • '-ra' Regional Assembly
  • '-tc' Town Council
• Parish Councils - unless the full title 'parishcouncil' is used the following suffix is required with the hyphen '-pc'
• Where towns or districts have the same name a county/geographic identifier should be used eg town-county.gov.uk
• Certain types of public sector organisations are required to use a suffix (unless the full title is used). These are:
  • Associations of Local Councils '-alc'
  • Area Child Protection Committees '-acpc'
  • Educational networks '-edunet'
  • Embassies '-emb'
  • Excellence in Cities initiatives 'eic-' (prefix rather than suffix)
  • Fire services '-fire'
  • Government Regional Offices 'GO-' (prefix rather than suffix)
  • Housing Authority Trusts '-hat'
  • Joint Services Units '-jsu'
  • Learning and Skills Centres 'lsc-' (prefix rather than suffix)
  • Library and Education Boards (Northern Ireland only) '-leb'
  • Local Education Authorities '-lea'
  • Local Government Associations '-lga'
  • Magistrates Court Committees '-mcc'
  • Magistrates Court Services '-mcs'
  • Museums '-mus' or museum or museums
  • National Park Authorities '-npa'
  • National Trails '-way'
  • Passenger Transport Authorities '-pta'
  • Passenger Transport Executives '-pte'
  • Police Authorities '-pa'
  • Prisons 'hmp- (prefix followed by name)
  • Probation Services '-probation'
  • Record Offices '-ro'
  • Sea Fisheries Committees '-sfe' or '-seafish'
  • Street Works Registers '-swr'
  • Valuation Joint Boards '-vjb'
  • Waste Disposal Authorities 'wda'
    

A number of requests for registration have been initially rejected with advice because the applicant has supplied misleading or inadequate information.

The name requested must be linked to the organisation it is for, rather than the one hosting the service.

Applications should make clear how the status of the organisation qualifies it to be in the UK government domain. For example:

" the status of the organisation, eg, central government executive agency, borough council;
" the role and objective of the organisation
" the status of the staff (eg, civil servants, local government officials);
" the source of funding;
" to whom the body is accountable.

Any questions about these guidelines, or specific candidate names, can be directed to naming@e-envoy.gsi.gov.uk. Applications must not be sent to this email address.

A number of domains have been registered which, at first sight, might be mistaken for officially delegated country top-level domains. These domains are often referred to as 'pseudo-domains'. The registrants of these domains typically resell subdomain names that also may be mistaken for officially delegated domains. The most common examples include: uk.com, uk.net, gb.com and gb.net.

Go back to 1.8 Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) | Go next to 1.10 Legal issues

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