Proposed Procedure: Creating Aliases
NOTE: This is a DRAFT document and is not intended for public use.
About this proposed procedure
Category Area Setup, Links and Navigation
Required or Recommended Required
Governing Policy Web Governance and Management
Tracking Number NT00000000
Comment on this item.
Brief description
(see the full document below for details)
An alias is a short Web site address (that is, a URL) that is easier to remember, type, or say than the full directory path. Choose aliases carefully and use only the “primary alias” when linking from your web pages and in promotional material. Choose secondary aliases to anticipate spelling and typing mistakes that viewers might make when they type in the alias, but use as few secondary aliases as possible.
Description to appear on checklists
Identify an appropriate alias (or aliases) for your TSSMS, request aliases, specify the primary alias and use only the primary alias (e.g., in all code, advertising, press releases, and promotional materials)
On this page
All standards and guidance
Definitions
Alias: a short URL that is easier to remember than the full directory path.
Primary alias: the alias used everywhere
Secondary aliases (or convenience aliases): aliases created to help people who mistype or try to guess at a URL; EPA creates secondary aliases to avoid "file not found" errors, but does not use them in code, advertising, etc.
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Content requirements
- Aliases must reflect the scope of a Web area:
- regional aliases must include some geographic description (for example, "region4grants") or "midatlanticgrants"
- aliases for specific pieces of a larger issue should also use specific aliases (for example, "cruiseshipwater" as opposed to "cruiseships" or "humanhealthresearchprogram" instead of "humanhealth")
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Style requirements
- Choose lower case aliases.
- Do not create secondary aliases using capital letters.
- Do not use numbers ("five") or numerals ("5"), except for region numerals, because people hearing it won't know which they are supposed to type.
- Do not use underscores, which are easily mistaken for spaces when typed out.
- Avoid acronyms.
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Required Steps
- Choose a primary alias
- Use the most common word or phrase to describe your Web area.
- Choose as short and simple an alias as possible; the goal is for someone to remember it after hearing or seeing it once
- If necessary, choose secondary aliases to cover alternate words, plural vs. singular and common misspellings. Use as few secondary aliases as possible. Secondary aliases are not required or preferred but are allowable for the convenience of Web visitors.
- Use only your primary alias, including on all advertising, press releases, and email signatures, all code, and all links. Don’t refer to secondary aliases anywhere.
- Always include www.epa.gov instead of the shorthand "epa.gov," in code, print, and advertising. It isn't necessary to include http:// in advertising.
- For database driven sites (Domino, Oracle, ColdFusion), request an alias on the public access server either to a redirect page with no delay or to a page using the normal look and feel that provides more information and links to an application.
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How to
- Identify an appropriate alias using the content and style requirements.
- Aliases are always immediately after www.epa.gov; you can't create an alias with a directory above it (for example www.epa.gov/air/aliasname). To do so, simply create a subdirectory with an appropriate name.
- Create the destination directory and place at least one file in the directory. It can be an empty file called "index.html." Aliases can't point to nonexistent directories. If you need to reserve an alias in advance, note that the directory doesn't yet exist in the additional notes section of the request form.
- Request aliases using the Submission Form For Requesting Alias Names on EPA's Servers. The Office of Public Affairs reviews requests and the Office of Environmental Information's National Computer Center creates and maintains aliases. You must have owner access to the relevant TSSMS account to request an alias.
- Use only the primary alias in all code, advertising, press releases, and promotional materials. All internal links from your Web pages must refer to the URL of the primary alias.
- For Oracle, ColdFusion, or Domino Web sites: You cannot have an alias on the public access server (epapub.epa.gov) point to Oracle, ColdFusion, or Domino web sites. Therefore, for databases create a redirect page or an information page on the public server.
- An example of a redirect page is www.epa.gov/npdes/, which uses an HTML redirect to send readers to cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/ as follows:
<HTML><HEAD><meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; URL=http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/"></HEAD></HTML>
- Do not incorporate a delay; instead, send the visitor to the database server immediately (that is, refresh after zero seconds).
- General cautions on aliases:
- Aliases can only point to directories, not to individual files within a directory. Therefore, it is not possible to create an alias to a particular file. Aliases cannot be created on one server for a site on another server, and should not contain special characters such as @, ', <, > and #.
- Aliases, like all URLs at epa.gov, are case-sensitive. The alias "water" is NOT the same as the alias "WATER."
- Aliases can cause headaches for relative addresses, particularly when they point below the TSSMS level. If your styles aren't appearing correctly, check that the style sheet code is using an absolute URL.
- It is inadvisable to have very long aliases - the longer the alias, the more likely the user will mis-type it.
- Aliases can be "orphaned" if the directories to which they point are moved or deleted during site maintenance or re-organization. "Orphaned" aliases are a particular risk on complex sites managed by many people. Include aliases in a migration plan when moving files.
- You can't have an alias that already exists.
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Examples
Choose an alias that is easier to remember than your TSSMS. For the TSSMS “cludygxb” the alias is “monitor.” Therefore www.epa.gov/cludygxb is www.epa.gov/monitor/
Aliases that point below the TSSMS level are also useful. For example, www.epa.gov/airlinewater is an alias for www.epa.gov/ogwdw000/airlinewater/ .
Multiple aliases for wording: www.epa.gov/region1 and www.epa.gov/boston for TSSMS region01
Multiple aliases to allow for misspellings and different guessed URLs: www.epa.gov/leavitt , www.epa.gov/levitt , www.epa.gov/johnson , and www.epa.gov/administrator for TSSMS adminweb
Alias to a redirect page for an application: www.epa.gov/npdes for cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/
Alias to provide more information about various databases: www.epa.gov/edr/ provides links to Environmental Data Registry applications on the Oracle Application Server.
In some cases, it's better to spell out a longer program name than make up an arbitrary abbreviation; ease of remembering is more important than absolute length. For example: www.epa.gov/performancetrack is better than http://www.epa.gov/pt or /perftrk
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Rationale
We are forced to create TSSMS names that are exactly eight characters long. However, the URL that is easiest to remember may be a different length or use different words. Aliases allow us to offer simpler, more intuitive URLs than relying on TSSMS names.
Use lower case in all aliases because it is simpler to remember and cite verbally. Although program names and other items may use capitalized acronyms in other settings, it adds confusion and complexity to what people have to remember or speak aloud.
Promoting only one alias makes www.epa.gov consistent, efficient, and reduces costs. Statistics are kept for each alias, so multiple aliases add time and effort to your analysis.
Furthermore, creating as few aliases as possible reduces costs for disaster recovery. Our system keeps copies of EPA's Web files by directory name, and treats each alias as a separate directory, multiplying storage costs.
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See Also
http://intranet.epa.gov/webmast3/webguide/aliasform.html
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URLs referred to when writing this standard
http://yosemite.epa.gov/OEI/webguide.nsf/create/alias
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Related governance documents
EPA
Related Policies
Related Procedures
Related Standards
Related Guidance
Non-EPA
None
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