Georgetown Website Options: Getting Started
- Managed WordPress Site
- GU360 Profile
- Google Sites
- Course Sites
- Georgetown Domains
- Custom-built WordPress or Drupal site
- Custom-built web application
See the summary of these website hosting considerations in table form.
Managed WordPress Site
UIS provides secure, accessible, visual identity-compliant themes in a managed WordPress hosting environment that allows departments to focus on their content and not worry about many of the maintenance issues that typically come with website hosting.
Advantages
- You don’t have to know how to do web development.
- You get the official Georgetown design.
- You don’t have to worry about accessibility in the template. (You will, however, still be responsible for making sure your content is accessible.)
Customization of the design is quite limited, however. New features are periodically added but must be judged useful for the larger Georgetown community (as opposed to a single site only).
Who can use this?
Any official Georgetown school, department, or center can use this platform. In some cases, approval from the parent communication/marketing team may be needed.
Your responsibilities
- Creation and publication of content through the WordPress web admin interface
- Ensuring content is accessible
UIS’ responsibilities
- Initial setup and launch assistance
- Security updates and monitoring
- Template maintenance and improvement
- Template accessibility
- Website performance
- Visual identity compliance
- Managing user access
GU360 Profile
GU360 provides official University faculty profiles. The Georgetown-branded interface is simple and easy to use. Each profile includes bio, expertise, teaching, publications, research areas, and more. The content is largely self-service and can be public, restricted to just the GU community, or private.
Who can use this?
All faculty, librarians, doctoral students, and postdoctoral fellows have access to create and maintain a profile.
Your responsibilities
- Entering your content
- Delegated access to a Georgetown employee to maintain your profile, if desired
UIS’ responsibilities
- Security updates and monitoring
- Template maintenance and improvement
- Template accessibility
- Website performance
- Visual identity compliance
- Adding terms for expertise, interests upon request
- Provisioning access to delegates upon request
Google Sites
Anyone with a Georgetown Google account can create a Google Site. These are typically sites that are easy to create and update, but limited in your ability to customize, as functionality is set by Google rather than Georgetown. The design of these sites is somewhat inflexible but can be slightly customized to match Georgetown visual identity.
Template accessibility is controlled by Google and may not meet university standards. Documentation on how to edit Google Sites is maintained by Google, and the capacity of the UIS Web Services team to assist is limited.
Who can use this?
These sites are typically used for faculty, lab/research, and intranet sites. Official Georgetown schools, departments, and centers should use the managed WordPress platform instead.
Your responsibilities
- Initial setup and configuration of the Google Site
- Creation and publication of content through the Google Sites admin interface
- Ensuring content is accessible
- Managing user access
UIS’ responsibilities
- Initial setup (in certain circumstances) and launch assistance
- Domain setup (yoursite.georgetown.edu) if eligible
Course Sites
The Center for New Designs in Learning & Scholarship (CNDLS) manages a WordPress platform for course blogs and private portfolios.
The templates are varied at how accessible it is. It is recommended to select the default WordPress templates that are accessible.
Who can use this?
These are typically used for course blogs, student and faculty portfolios, and collaborative research groups. This is one of the only offerings where the content of the blog can be limited to a designated group of users (eg: students in a course). These are typically not used for official Georgetown school, department, or center sites.
Your responsibilities
- Creation and publication of content through the WordPress web admin interface
- Ensuring content is accessible
- Managing user access
CNDLS’ responsibilities
- Consultation on pedagogical practices (eg: digital assignments, setting up prompts for reflective writing, etc)
- Initial setup and launch assistance
- Security updates and monitoring
- Template maintenance and improvement
- Template accessibility
- Website performance
Georgetown Domains
CNDLS provides hosting space and a georgetown.domains name through the Georgetown Domains project, where students, staff, and faculty can set up sites.
Who can use this?
These sites are typically focused on academic or student portfolio use cases.
Your responsibilities
- Initial setup and launch assistance
- Creation and publication of content
- Ensuring content is accessible
- Managing user access
- Security updates and monitoring
- Template maintenance and improvement
- Template accessibility
- Website performance
- Visual identity compliance
CNDLS’ responsibilities
- Consultation on pedagogical practices and digital presence
- Limited Security updates and monitoring
- Limited support for Website performance
Custom-built WordPress or Drupal site
If you have a custom-built WordPress or Drupal site, it must be hosted on Georgetown’s Pantheon platform.
Who is this good for?
These sites are typically school, or center and institute sites with unique needs for custom data types, functionality, or design. They typically use internal web teams or external vendors for both the initial build and ongoing maintenance.
Your, or your vendor’s, responsibilities
- Work with UIS on the Pantheon contract
- Pantheon hosting costs
- Indicate to UIS whether you or your vendor are responsible for each of the following:
- Initial setup and launch assistance
- Creation and publication of content
- Ensuring content is accessible
- Managing user access
- Security updates and monitoring
- Template maintenance and improvement
- Template accessibility
- Website performance
- Visual identity compliance
UIS’ responsibilities
- Managing the Pantheon master contract
- Initial Pantheon setup
- Shibboleth and domain setup in Pantheon
Custom-built web application
In limited cases where none of the preceding options work, custom-built applications can be internally or externally hosted. These will need UIS approval before proceeding. Externally managed sites like Wix and Squarespace are not allowed for anything other than personal sites.
Who is this good for?
Typically these are research sites or complex custom applications. They typically use internal web teams or external vendors for both the initial build and ongoing maintenance.
Your, or your vendor’s, responsibilities
- Contact UIS about a hosting recommendation and a security review
- Indicating to UIS exactly who is responsible for each of the following:
- Initial setup and launch assistance
- Creation and publication of content
- Ensuring content is accessible
- Managing user access
- Security updates and monitoring
- Template maintenance and improvement
- Template accessibility
- Website performance
- Visual identity compliance
UIS’ responsibilities
- Advise on hosting
- Manage Google Cloud or AWS hosting if that is selected
- Security review
- Shibboleth and domain setup