Frequently Asked Questions

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General Questions

What software does Faculty Websites use?

We are using WordPress, which is an open-source web content management system.

How do I know if Faculty Websites will work for me?

Faculty Websites has many features, but also has limitations. Please read “ Are Faculty Websites Right for You?” to find out if the service will meet your needs.

Who can create a Faculty Website?

Only UCI Faculty may request a Faculty Website. We have a companion service, UCI Sites that is available to Faculty, Staff and Graduate Students. Undergraduate students may use Google Sites.

What is the difference between Faculty Websites and a self-hosted WordPress site?

We often get questions about features that are available on self-hosted WordPress sites versus what is offered on Faculty Websites. We have created a comparison table to help explain the differences.

What is the difference between Faculty Websites and the Faculty Profile System?

Faculty Websites is a web hosting platform using WordPress. UCI Faculty can request and create a robust website to share their teaching and research. Learn more about the features of Faculty Websites.

The Faculty Profile System is run by the Office of Research and is a central database of one-page faculty profiles. You can link to your Faculty Website from your Faculty Profile. To make changes to your Faculty Profile, click the “For Faculty” link on the Faculty Profile System. You will need to log in with your UCInetID and password.

How do I request a site?

Go to the Faculty Websites homepage and click on the Request a Website button. Fill out the request form. A request task will be assigned to the Faculty Websites team in OIT who will create the site for you. You will receive an email with the login and site information.

What is my username and password?

We are using UCInetIDs to authenticate. Use your UCInetID and password to login. Generally, your UCInetID is the first part of your email address before the @ sign.

Is there any cost to use Faculty Websites?

OIT covers all of the costs to use this shared service. There is no cost to the people using the service.

Do Faculty Websites ever expire?

We do monitor sites for change activity. If your website has not been updated in more than 2 years, it may be archived. We will try to contact the administrator of the site to ask if the site is still being maintained. If we do not hear back or the site is not updated, we may archive the site. Archived sites can be reinstated at any time upon request.

Do you have other questions?

Contact us! We’re here to help.

If you need technical support, please use the Need Help? widget in your dashboard, or contact CampusPress directly 24/7.

Themes and Plugins

How can I install a new plugin for my site?

Faculty Websites is basic web hosting using WordPress Multisite as a content management system. All sites share the same plugins and themes. Unlike a stand-alone version of WordPress, site administrators cannot install or modify themes and plugins. Each new plugin must be evaluated and tested by CampusPress to see if it will benefit the entire system and passes code review. Each new plugin has potential software conflicts, security risks, and can often slow down the system for all sites. If there is functionality that you need, contact CampusPress who will try to find a solution with their existing suite of plugins. There is often a way to achieve what you need with what is already available.

How do I choose a new theme?

You can change the visual style of you blog by selecting a new theme. We offer a variety of themes with different styles and levels of customization. To change your theme, login to your blog and select Appearance > Themes to preview the available themes. You can click on a theme to preview your blog with the new style and if you like it, click Activate.

Can I edit one of the existing themes or can I get a new one installed?

No, you cannot edit existing themes or install a new one. However, you can change the visual style of you site by using Custom CSS via an existing plugin or by selecting a new theme. We offer a variety of themes with different styles and levels of customization. To change your theme, login to your blog and select Appearance > Themes to preview the available themes. You can click on a theme to preview your blog with the new style and if you like it, click Activate. If you need a theme that is highly customizable, try Divi which also includes an advanced drag and drop page builder.

Managing My Site

How do I add others to my site to help with edits?

If you are an administrator, you can add anyone with a UCInetID. See our “Adding a User to Your Site” help document for instructions.

Can I delete my site?

If you have created a site and no longer want it, you can delete it at any time. We have instructions to help you. Before you delete your website make sure to export the content if you want to preserve your work.

Can I use a custom domain on a site hosted by Faculty Websites?

Yes, on Faculty Websites it is possible to use a custom domain for your site, such as sitename.bio.uci.edu instead of the default address you get when you sign up, like sites.uci.edu/sitename/. We use Domain Mapping to map your custom domain to your individual site. The custom domain is an alias to the site. Your original domain will still work and will be what you see when you are logged in.

Requirements

  • The domain requestor must be a faculty or staff member at UCI.
  • All custom domains must be sub-domains or nested sub-domains of uci.edu
    • If the website belongs to a specific school, it should be a sub-domain of that school, for example, sitename.bio.uci.edu
    • Only one domain will be allocated for each site. We cannot accommodate multiple custom domains.
  • The website must be set up with public visibility. Custom domains do not work for private or password-protected sites.
  • Top-level subdomains like ‘sitename.uci.edu’ require approval from a campus committee and have strict guidelines which will significantly lengthen the time frame. See the UCI Subdomain Guidelines for more information and to request a top-level subdomain. If you don’t need a top-level subdomain, consider a nested subdomain as these generally don’t require approval and will speed up the process.
  • Existing Domains – If you are moving your current website and want to keep your domain, this move will take over the whole domain. If you have applications or other content that is not moving over, we do not recommend this method. We will also need to carefully schedule the move after hours to make sure the site is not impacted by any downtime as DNS and SSL are updated.
  • It can take a few days to complete the process as we need to request and install a new SSL certificate and map the domain. There will be a short time (approximately one hour) when the SSL certificate will not work. For new domains, this is not an issue, but if you are transferring an existing domain we will try to schedule this after hours to cause less disruption.

Learn more about custom domains and how to request one.

What happens to my site if I am no longer an active employee at UCI?

After you are no longer an active employee, you will not be able to login to edit your site. We recommend exporting the site’s content to another service like WordPress.com. They offer robust WordPress hosting and have plans from personal to business use. If you can no longer log in to your site because you graduated or left UCI, contact us and we can export the site for you.

More Questions?

Do you have a question we didn’t answer? Contact us! We’re here to help.