Israel Science and Technology Directory

Internet

Standards for Organizational URLs

Written by Israel Hanukoglu, Ph.D., Editor of Israel Science & Technology Directory.

The websites of large organizations such as government offices, academic institutions and commercial enterprises may include thousands of pages representing many divisions and employees under a single domain. Management of these websites requires an organized hierarchical file directory structure specifying the locations of pages and documents from diverse divisions and sub-divisions within the enterprise structure.

This document recommends standards for naming file directories within websites of organizations, enterprises, and their sub-divisions.

  1. Organization URL
  2. Department or Sub-division URL
  3. Events
  4. Personal pages
  5. Bilingual websites
  6. Rationale

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1. Organization URL

  1. Each organization should have its own domain.
    Example: https://www.company.com/
  2. If the organization operates in one country, it should preferably use a Country-code Top-level Domain (e.g., .il for Israel).
  3. The opening homepage of the organization should NOT be redirected, i.e., entering just the domain name should display the homepage. If the website has a default page name (such as index.htm) defined in the server, then the server loads that file automatically without displaying the file name.

    GOOD examples of homepages WITHOUT redirection:
    https://www.jerusalem.muni.il/
    https://www.science.co.il/

  4. Redirection of the homepage to a different page is not recommended because it is not efficient for search engine listings, and it takes up time in server redirection. I have seen homepage addresses changed many times for various reasons, such as changing the webmaster or modifying the coding languages such as ASP to PHP. This change leads to instability of the address and reduces rating in search engine rankings.

    A BAD example of a homepage WITH redirection: The address
    https://www.lod.muni.il/  is redirected to:
    https://www.lod.muni.il/he-il/אתר-העיר/

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2. Department or Subdivision URL

  1. Directory Structure: Each department or sub-division of the organization should be assigned a separate directory.

    GOOD example: https://www.weizmann.ac.il/physics/

    Do not forget the terminal slash at the end of the directory name. Omission of the terminal "/" may cause the server to execute one more steps of lookup and redirection.

  2. Subdomain names: A division within an organization may be assigned a subdomain name that points to a specific directory. A subdomain should not have the prefix of "www".

    GOOD example: https://biology.technion.ac.il/
    BAD example: https://www.cs.huji.ac.il/

  3. Directory default file name: Each directory should be assigned a default file name, so that entering just the URL such as https://geosciences.tau.ac.il/ should display the Homepage of that division. Many sites do not follow this rule and entering the directory name leads to the display of a page with directory structure, or an error code.
  4. Meaningful names: The names used for the directories should be as much as possible full names or widely accepted abbreviations.

    Good example: https://social-work.biu.ac.il/
    Bad example: https://in.bgu.ac.il/humsos/social/Pages/default.aspx

  5. Webmaster contact: Each sub-division homepage should have an e-mail form or address for contacting the webmaster or editor of the website.

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3. Events

  1. Major organizational events, such as conferences organized by the organization should be listed under separate directories as specified above for departments and sub-divisions.

    Example: http://www.kenes.com/health2001/

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4. Personal pages

  1. Personal pages of staff members should be listed in sub-directories under each specific department.

    Example: http://www.academy.org/chemistry/epstein/

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5. Bi-lingual websites

  1. Some organizations that have bilingual sites place language-specific files under specific directories. For example, Hebrew-specific files may be under a directory named with a 2-letter abbreviation of the language.
    https://www.organization.com/he/
  2. A language-specific directory should be at the level of the lowest division. For example, Hebrew pages of a department could have an address such as:
    https://www.college.ac.il/chemistry/he/ rather than
    http://www.college.ac.il/he/chemistry/

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6. Rationale

These specifications are based on the following considerations:

  1. Stability of the links: Broken links that result from frequently changed URLs is a major problem on the internet. Adherence to standards should reduce dependence on the whims of a webmaster and coding habits, and thus improve the stability of the links.
  2. Search engine listings: Search engines may not index pages with scripted URLs such as:
    http://marine.ocean.org.il/goto.dbm?URL=KLL
    Clearly defined site organization within directories may improve the ranking in search engine searches.
  3. Presentable links: The standards here should help each department present a respectable URL.
    What would look better on the card of a department member?
    This: http://www.university.edu/physics/
    or
    this: http://www.university.edu/phys-acadstaff.html
  4. Ease of use: A well-defined URL is easy to remember and can be typed in the absence of a link. Most browsers complete the address automatically.

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