Website regulations
23/03/11 Please note that this document is currently being revised to make it more clear. The terms and conditions herein will not change without notification on this page
This document outlines the rules and regulations applying to all websites within leeds.ac.uk, or on the University network, or external to the University but which use the corporate name/style/logo etc.
This document is subject to change at any time. Major changes - those which require changes to departmental websites for example - will be announced via the webmasters e-mail list. Otherwise, please check here regularly.
In this document, the term department implies faculties, departments, schools, institutes, centres, groups, services, administrative offices etc. but not the Students Union or Union societies.
General issues
All websites must comply with all points outlined in this section.
All non-personal websites must:
- be properly authorised and registered
- have a clear association with the University
- display a prominent link to a privacy statement tailored for that website
- comply with the University Accessibility Standards (including the need to use validating code and style sheets). In addition to the other requirements associated with accessibility websites can tested using the W3C's HTML/XML (http://validator.w3.org/) and CSS (http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/) checkers for valid code and they must pass these tests.
- comply with all the requirements set out in this document
In addition, all web servers must be separately authorised and registered.
Registering your website / web server
To register your website and/or web server simply E-mail the URL or server name to webmaster@leeds.ac.uk. Further information will then be requested.
Advertising
(see also: Legal issues)
Commercial or third party advertising is not permitted on any website that is owned or operated by the University, or uses the University name and/or branding regardless of where it is hosted, or is held on the University network.
It is permissible to advertise under the following conditions and for the following purposes:
- Advertising events, courses, conferences, facilities, services etc. offered by or organised by the University
- Advertising our involvement in schemes (for example Fairtrade)
All adverts must be approved in advance. Please contact the University Webmaster in the first instance. If approved, permission will be granted via the University Webmaster.
Use of the logo/corporate branding
See the Identity Management website for information on Visual Identity.
Permission is not required to use the University logo or other forms of corporate branding on pages hosted on a server on the University network which are not purely personal in nature. The logo/branding must not be used on LUU society/club pages. The University Crest must not be used on any web pages without the written permission of the University Secretary or Vice Chancellor, and in such cases the written permission must be copied to the University Webmaster.
Wherever the logo is used it must link to the University home page (http://www.leeds.ac.uk/)
The logo must be used in an approved format and not modified in any way unless agreed in advance. Please contact the University Webmaster in the first instance. If approved, permission for such use will be granted via the University Webmaster.
Permission must be granted in advance for any use of the logo/branding on sites outside the University network. Please contact the University Webmaster in the first instance. If approved, permission for such use will be granted via the University Webmaster.
Please note that we take branding and the use of the University logo seriously. The logo is trademarked in numerous jurisdictions and we will issue takedown notices where we discover unauthorised use on external websites. This is why it is vital that you register all websites and that you have proper authorisation before you make any use of branding and/or the logo on external sites. FOr further information on use of the logo including non-web related use see Trademarks
Links
Links to material that would be in breach of acceptable use policy is barred. It is important to check links regularly to ensure that the material they link to is still appropriate. Such checks are the responsibility of the person signed as responsible for each individual website and/or the relevant head of school or service.
Naming criteria
University websites must have URLs with leeds.ac.uk in them, for example www.leeds.ac.uk/department or department.leeds.ac.uk or similar. It is not permitted to redirect non-leeds.ac.uk names to University websites without prior permission. Please e-mail the University Webmaster if you need clarification.
Websites hosted offsite
It is not permissible to host any departmental or corporate page on a server outside leeds.ac.uk, or to use any URL or DNS entry etc. with leeds.ac.uk in it on servers outside the campus network without prior permission. Please contact the University Webmaster in the first instance. If approved, permission for such use will be granted via the University Webmaster. Where unauthorised websites are discovered we will issue takedown notices to the relevant service providers.
Data gathering via websites
Please refer to the Data Protection section. Where personal data is gathered by or presented in a website permission for its use must be sought in advance. Depeding on the nature of data gathered you may need permission from your school or faculty ethics committee in advance.
Use of copyright material
You must have permission to use any material (including photographs etc) on your website unless you can show that the material is in the public domain. Please be aware that a copyright license may specify the media which can be used so you must ensure you have permission to use the material on the web. You will need to be able to prove you have permission so please keep a record of this.
General
In providing a website or a web server you are bound by the University's Information Security Policies and the Janet (UK) Acceptable Use Policy. Please review this information. You are also bound by UK law including copyright and defamation laws.
In particular please note it is not permitted under any circumstances to pass users AD credentials in clear text. Where you have a website which requires users to enter the AD credentials (i.e. their University [ISS] userid and password) these must be passed via SSL. This means any web server which requires this must be SSL-enabled (i.e. https://) and properly certified. ISS can obtain SSL certificates at no cost for non-financial use.
Credit card details must not be accepted or processed by systems within the University.
Remember that whatever you publish can be seen worldwide. Consider your target audience and remember that what might be acceptable in one jurisdiction may not be in another. Remember the international nature of the Internet. Please also bear in mind that information published via the web by the University is generally viewed as authoritative. If in doubt, ask first!
Departmental pages
Departmental pages may be hosted on the central web server, on a department's own web server, or on the ISS Web Hosting service.
In addition to the general issues outlined above, departmental pages must comply with the following:
Navigation
- Your front (home) page must have a clearly identifiable link to the University home page (http://www.leeds.ac.uk/). Links should be through use of the appropriate logo wherever possible.
- Your sub-pages should have some clickable path back to either (preferably) your front page, to Campusweb, or to the University home page.
- All pages should where possible have wording indicating who is responsible for them and when they were created or updated.
Students Union and Union Club and Society pages
The Students Union website and Union club and society sites are governed by the LUU's own regulations.
Clubs and societies are free to use an ISP to host their sites or to use their specific ISS group account to host their websites on the personal web server.See below for personal page regulations and note that they must not use personal ISS accounts to host society websites.
Regardless of where they are hosted they must not use the University logo or official branding in any way. Please note LUU societies are societies of (for example) Leeds University Union. Societies must not call themselves (for example) Leeds University XYZ Society - the proper form is Leeds University Union XYZ Society or similar wording (e.g. LUU Society of XYZ).
They must indicate their affiliation to the LUU and link to the LUU home page.
Note that all society websites previously hosted on the central web server have expired and been removed
The following relates to society webspace set up using the society's ISS group account: this webspace will remain active so long as the society account exists. These accounts are provided via and managed by the LUU.
Clubs and societies requiring web space on the personal web server should contact:
The Activities Manager
Leeds University Union
Tel: 0113 380 1414
Fax: 0113 380 1416
G.banks@leeds.ac.uk
Personal web pages
Personal web pages may be purely personal, for example a page about yourself, or personal but departmental in nature, for example your lecture notes, course material etc., or a mixture. Students may use personal web pages for their coursework.
In no case may a website for a department or any other group (other than LUU societies as set out above) be held within a set of personal web pages. This means that under no circumstances may a personal website be used to support a group of people - personal means 'your' page, not a group page. If in doubt, ask.
Personal web pages do not require formal authorisation.
Authors of personal pages are personally responsible for the content of their sites.
Web pages which are purely personal in nature must not contain any departmental or corporate information. Such pages must not use the University logo or any form of corporate branding.
Personal web pages which are personal but departmental in nature must meet the requirements for departmental pages, and can use corporate branding if necessary provided they are hosted within the University. They must have a link to the owner department.
Student coursework (i.e. that created by a student as part of their course) may be considered personal and thus exempt from the usual departmental criteria but the pages should indicate that they are coursework. Student coursework pages may use the logo if required provided they are hosted within the University.
Where a set of personal pages contains a mixture of purely personal and personal departmental information, this should be split into separate pages and the nature of each clearly indicated. For example you may have a short page with links both to pages containing teaching material, and to pages containing purely personal (i.e. not University related) information.
Personal pages as defined above may be placed on the ISS personal web page server, or any other server within the University network with the agreement of the person responsible for that server.
Please remember, personal pages are about you and must not be used for any other purpose. To illustrate, a lecturer might hold pages of lecture notes, module information etc., but it would not be appropriate to hold a page detailing the work of a research group as that should have a properly authorised and hosted website.
Document maintained by Jeremy M. Harmer; Last updated 23 March 2011