The .uk domain name extension is said to be the fourth
most popular 'top-level domain' in the world (after
.com, .de and .net). However, it has
never been possible to register domain names which simply end
.uk (for example, dehns.uk). Instead, anyone wishing to
register a UK-specific domain name has had to include a so-called
'third-level domain', such as .co (as in
dehns.co.uk), or .org (as in
dehns.org.uk).
All this is due to change from summer 2014, when for the first
time, shorter, simpler .uk domains will be available to
register alongside domains ending in .co.uk,
.org.uk and so on. This change represents the biggest ever
shake-up of the UK domain name infrastructure. It also coincides
with the upcoming introduction of over a thousand new 'global
top-level domains', such as .app, .music, and
.shop , as previously reported
here.
