Just a trivial question, but I was wondering why the UK has the ".co" bit in web addresses.
Everywhere else seems to just be ".de" or ".com" or some other single section suffix so why does the UK have the ".co" bit in aswell?
I'm confident that someone (or more likely everyone) else here will know!
.co.uk
Moderators: Loopz, usernick, legspin, jof, the PLA
- stargurl
- Geography group B
- Posts: 1078
- Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 9:56 pm
- antispam: No
- Question: Orbital
- Anti Spam: Orbital
- Location: Losing a shoe in the mud
- Contact:
Wikipedia to the rescue!
I suppose it's a bit like .com - .co.uk is for commercial/general use
Second-level domains
* .ac.uk - academic (tertiary education and research establishments) and learned societies.
* .co.uk - commercial/general
* .gov.uk - government (central and local)
* .ltd.uk - limited companies
* .me.uk - personal
* .mil.uk - Ministry of Defence
* .mod.uk - Ministry of Defence and HM Forces public sites
* .net.uk - ISPs and network companies
* .nic.uk - network use only
* .nhs.uk - National Health Service institutions
* .org.uk - non-profit organisations
* .plc.uk - public limited companies
* .police.uk - police forces
* .sch.uk - schools, primary and secondary education
I suppose it's a bit like .com - .co.uk is for commercial/general use
Second-level domains
* .ac.uk - academic (tertiary education and research establishments) and learned societies.
* .co.uk - commercial/general
* .gov.uk - government (central and local)
* .ltd.uk - limited companies
* .me.uk - personal
* .mil.uk - Ministry of Defence
* .mod.uk - Ministry of Defence and HM Forces public sites
* .net.uk - ISPs and network companies
* .nic.uk - network use only
* .nhs.uk - National Health Service institutions
* .org.uk - non-profit organisations
* .plc.uk - public limited companies
* .police.uk - police forces
* .sch.uk - schools, primary and secondary education
- hippy dave
- Meltdown
- Posts: 2128
- Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 1:13 am
yuh, what she said.
i think it's a good thing - just like with the top-level domains (.com .org etc - non-country-specific) it means you can differentiate between types of domain, but still know they're uk-based. obviously the system isn't used perfectly, just like a lot of non-commercial sites use .com because it's the most obvious, you get the same with .co.uk, but that's not too big a deal.
it does seem less common with other countries' domains, but it's not unique - i'm pretty sure .com.au is used etc.

i think it's a good thing - just like with the top-level domains (.com .org etc - non-country-specific) it means you can differentiate between types of domain, but still know they're uk-based. obviously the system isn't used perfectly, just like a lot of non-commercial sites use .com because it's the most obvious, you get the same with .co.uk, but that's not too big a deal.
it does seem less common with other countries' domains, but it's not unique - i'm pretty sure .com.au is used etc.
dance your cares away, worries for another day
- Timbob
- Monsters Exist!
- Posts: 2271
- Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2005 12:17 am
- antispam: No
- Question: Orbital
- Anti Spam: Orbital
- Location: Breakfast with Karl Bartos.
- Contact:

It's 106 miles to Chicago.
We got a full tank of gas,
half a pack of cigarettes.
It's dark and we are wearing sunglasses