Our goal is to provide an easy way to create and maintain a basic website or blog using a web-based Content Management System (CMS). We have chosen WordPress as it has an easy-to-use interface and is scalable to accommodate many websites on campus.
Benefits
- Free. No charge to use the service.
- Easy-to-use interface, no HTML expertise needed.
- Web-based editing, no desktop software needed
- Multi-user environment with role-based access which allows others to help manage the content on your website. (All users must have UCInetIDs.)
- Built-in version control
- Built-in Search
- RSS Feeds
- Embed images and video for a multi-media experience
- Drag-and-drop menu management
- Website is hosted for you
- Nightly system backups
- *Custom UCI Domain
* If you have another domain, we can map your sites.uci.edu address to your other domain if it is within UCI.EDU. We cannot do .org or .com URLs due to our authentication method. You may need to consult with your local computer support person for help. It does need to be a sub-domain or top-level domain vs. a sub-directory. For example, johndoe.bio.uci.edu vs. bio.uci.edu/johndoe/.
Limitations
- Only faculty, staff, and graduate students can create a site or blog. Undergraduates can be added to an existing site in any role by the site administrator.
- This is a shared host. Currently, we host more than 2,500 small websites and blogs.
- Limited to editing via WordPress tools.
No programming or scripting access. - No FTP access.
If you have a website created in Dreamweaver or another web development program, you will not be able to upload your HTML pages. All of your content (Posts and Pages) reside in a database. You can recreate the pages and copy and paste the content. - All website contributors (authors, editors, etc.) must have a UCInetID to login.
- Limited to installed plugins.
We do have a variety of useful plugins installed that you can enable via the Plugins menu in the dashboard. - Limited to installed themes.
We offer approximately 90 themes installed. Many of our themes are customizable, allowing you to make changes to better suit your needs. Styles (fonts, etc) are not editable unless you know CSS well. We do have a Custom CSS Manager plugin that allows you to override the theme’s styles using CSS. If you need a theme that is highly customizable, we recommend trying Divi or CampusPress Flex.
Faculty Websites
Faculty also have the option to use Faculty Websites. Faculty Websites are similar with the following differences.
- We create the site(s) for you upon request.
- We create a template website with sample pages to make getting started easier.
- Learn more about Faculty Websites
More Robust Needs?
You may find that your needs are more than we can accommodate with Sites.uci.edu. If that is the case, there are other options:
- Check with the local IT department in your school.
They may have web hosting or other services that can be more customized.