Which address for your website? Read the new EPFL directive
Web analogies © 2021 EPFL / mediacom
The new directive for the management of domain names at EPFL came into force in May 2021. It explains how web addresses (urls / domain names) are managed.
In 2021, the process of revising the directive for the allocation of domain names at EPFL was completed, after a consultation with the School Assembly and the staff. You can now read the new directive on the Polylex website (LEX 6.2.1).
The purpose of this directive is to protect EPFL's image on the Internet and to guarantee the security and proper functioning of EPFL's websites, network and data, by ensuring the proper use of domain names.
It explains the basis on which EPFL sub-domain names are allocated (i.e. mydomain.epfl.ch) and what exceptions are possible to have a website with its own external domain name (e.g. myconference.org).
A directive focused on domain names
This guideline deals only with the addresses (urls) of websites (what you see in your browser bar). It does not talk about the graphic design or the different hosting solutions available. Indeed, the url should be considered as a simple address (I live at 5 rue des Rosiers) and not as the content of the site (it is a 5-storey building built in the 1990s). So, whatever your url, it is then up to you to determine a hosting solution (EPFL Wordpress CMS; internal hosting, on an EPFL server that you will manage from A to Z; or even an external commercial hosting solution).
What are the conditions for obtaining an abc.epfl.ch type address? Is it possible to buy an address outside the .epfl.ch domain for your site? What is the difference between an address and a hosting solution? And what about the EPFL graphic charter, must it be applied systematically? Find all these answers on the page of good practices for obtaining a web address.
Legend and analogy of the illustration:
Hosting: the building.
Domain name: the postal address of the building.
URL: the full postal address of the person.
CMS (WordPress EPFL...): the hotel; the layout and services are proposed and the clients used them without being able to substantially modify them.
Styleguide: the appearance of the building, from the façade to the wallpapers in the corridors, including the architecture of the rooms.
Content: what is in each room of the flat (furniture, knick-knacks, ...)
Images to download
