Websites/Taskforce/Proposals/Domain Name Strategy

Domain Name Strategy

Working Group

John Slater, Janet Swisher, and David Boswell

Problem

We are currently using our organizational structure as a way to set up domain names and this is presenting irrelevant information to people and diverting our message away from more important things, such as what we do and why we do it.

For example, the following are some of the organizational domains currently in use:

• mozilla.com
• mozillamessaging.com
• mozilla-europe.org

Note that mozilla.org is not an organizational domain -- it is the community's domain that was set up and used long before there was any Mozilla organization. It isn't the Foundation's organizational domain -- that is mozillafoundation.org that was in use briefly but has been retired.

Solution

Short version

Stop using organizations as a way to structure our domain name strategy.

Long version

Develop an alternate domain name strategy that uses something other than organizations for its structure. There seem to be two main options:

• Structure a strategy based on product/activity: firefox.com, thunderbird.com, drumbeat.org, etc.

• Structure a strategy based on the idea that the universe is all one big Mozilla site: mozilla.org/firefox, mozilla.org/thunderbird, mozilla.org/drumbeat, etc.

Both options have advantages and disadvantages, so there should be some discussion. We can also learn by doing. We propose taking one site currently using the mozilla.com domain and changing it to learn what works and what doesn't. That can then be a model for dealing with other organization-based domains.

"One Mozilla" Strategy

I (Janet) propose the following principles for structuring URLs for the "one Mozilla" strategy:

• Use subdirectories for product-specific sub-sites.
  • E.g., product portals: mozilla.org/firefox, mozilla.org/thunderbird, mozilla.org/seamonkey
• Use subdomains for functional areas or efforts that cut across products, or embrace the broader Mozilla mission.
  • E.g., addons.mozilla.org, developer.mozilla.org, drumbeat.mozilla.org
• Use subdirectories with subdomains for product-specific sites only as it makes sense based on content.
  • E.g., support.mozilla.org/firefox and support.mozilla.org/thunderbird, but developer.mozilla.org (no subdir)
• Use protocol-named subdomains only for non-web servers (irc, ftp). I.e., drop 'www'. Protocol names, when used, should be the first element in a domain name.

Case Study

We propose converting mozilla.com into a Firefox-specific site to be hosted at mozilla.org/firefox. This would mean there is no just one top-level Mozilla site instead of the current two (mozilla.org and mozilla.com). Once this process is done, we can review how things went, make changes to the domain if needed and roll out a plan for dealing with other organization-based domains.

Using the principles of the "One Mozilla" strategy could result in the following new URLs:

Existing URL	Proposed URL	Comment
mozilla.com	mozilla.org/firefox
support.mozilla.com	support.mozilla.org/firefox
mobile.support.mozilla.com	support.mozilla.org/firefox/mobile or support.mozilla.org/firefoxmobile
addons.mozilla.org	addsons.mozilla.org[/firefox]†
spreadfirefox.com	spread.mozilla.org/firefox or mozilla.org/firefox/spread	Both are awkward because they split up "spread firefox".
nightly.mozilla.org	mozilla.org/firefox/nightly or builds.mozilla.org/firefox
firefoxflicks.com	mozilla.org/firefox/archive/flicks	Inactive since 2006
getfirefox.com	mozilla.org/firefox	Currently redirects to mozilla.com
rockyourfirefox.com	mozilla.org/firefox/rockyourfirefox or rockyourfirefox.com	Let microsites violate the rules?
mozilla-europe.com	mozilla.eu/firefox for downloads and europe.mozilla.org for the organization ?	mozilla.eu contradicts "one mozilla", but with the purpose of emphasizing European presence
input.mozilla.org	input.mozilla.org[/firefox]†

† If there are no other product subdirectories, the top level URL could be for Firefox.