Communications & Public Relations Office Website Support Website Policies and Guidelines Web Edit Requests Requesting a New Website School of Medicine Center, Institute & Lab Websites Digital Accessibility Resources Website Redesign & Migration Projects In Development Webpages Clinical Department Template Logo & Graphic Design Support Event Listing Requests Video Production Support Photography Services Meet the Team School of Medicine Center, Institute & Lab Websites Resources and guidelines for building and managing professional, accessible and on-brand School of Medicine center, institute and lab websites. Home About Campus & Community Resources Communications & Public Relations Office Communications & Public Relations Office > Website Support Communications & Public Relations Office > Website Support > School of Medicine Center, Institute & Lab Websites UCI Sites UCI Sites is the recommended website platform for School of Medicine centers, institutes and labs. This free, stable and secure do-it-yourself tool is powered by CampusPress, a WordPress-managed hosting platform for educational institutions, and supported by the UC Irvine Office of Information Technology (OIT). All themes, plugins and security updates are managed centrally, allowing you to focus on your content without worrying about technical details. While you have the freedom to build and manage your own site, you are not alone in this process. See below to discover the various levels of support available to you. UCI Sites Website UCI Sites supports a broad range of websites across campus, including departments, classes, centers and institutes. Faculty, staff and graduate students can request a new UCI Sites website; undergraduates must use Google Sites. UCI Sites: Faculty Websites The UCI Sites: Faculty Websites platform is limited to UC Irvine faculty who want to create a research lab website or a personal website to showcase information such as CVs, publications, awards and classes. Self-Service Resources Get started and manage your site with a range of free resources. UCI Sites Help Center: Main knowledge base for all platform-specific questions. Free Online Training: Self-paced WordPress courses available on UCI Udemy. CampusPress Support: UCI Sites hosting platform provides in-depth documentation and IT support. DCT Consulting The School of Medicine's Digital Communications Team (DCT) provides guidance on digital communications, branding and accessibility. Branding, Graphics & Logos: Guidance on implementing graphics, official logos and brand assets. Content & Accessibility: Consultations on creating and editing your site's content to meet user experience, accessibility and brand standards. Vanity URLs: Assistance with setting up a School of Medicine-branded URL. Please note: The DCT does not write, edit, format or update content on your website. Additional Support If you need more hands-on assistance, consider these flexible options. Paid OIT Support: The Campus Office of Information Technology offers paid support services. Student Workers: Consider hiring a student with WordPress experience for an efficient site launch, ongoing management or both. External Vendors: The DCT can provide referrals to experienced third-party vendors. Important Content Guidelines To ensure your website aligns with School of Medicine and UCI Health policies, please follow these key content guidelines: No Direct Patient/Consumer-Facing Content: Your site should focus on research, academics or administrative information. No Sensitive Information: Do not use forms to collect patient or other sensitive data. Linking to UCI Health: You can link to consumer-facing content on the ucihealth.org website. School of Medicine Web Policies: Our comprehensive web policies page provides a full overview of content, accessibility, branding and other standards. School of Medicine Website Policies & Guidelines Frequently Asked Questions & Get In Touch Below are answers to common questions about using UCI Sites and the School of Medicine website resources for centers, institutes and labs. If you have a question not covered here, please contact the School of Medicine's Digital Communications Team (DCT) for additional website support. Email the DCT Getting Started FAQs What is the first step to get my website started? Centers & Institutes Visit the UCI Sites website and click the "Request a Website" button at the top of the page. This will take you to a page with more information on the platform and a simple request form to begin the process. Faculty Research Labs For faculty research labs, you will request a new website on the UCI Sites Faculty Websites platform. Although UCI Sites and Faculty Websites are both powered by CampusPress and hosted by campus OIT, faculty are encouraged to use the faculty platform to create and manage their lab websites. It is specifically designed to support research labs and professional academic profiles and provides templates for both types of websites to help faculty get started. Support FAQs What is the difference between DCT support and OIT technical support? Think of our teams as partners with different areas of expertise. The Digital Communications Team (DCT) specializes in digital strategy, helping you with content, branding and accessibility best practices. We also provide direct technical support and platform management for our School of Medicine Drupal websites, such as medschool.uci.edu. The Office of Information Technology (OIT) is responsible for the UCI Sites technical platform itself. For any technical issues related to UCI Sites — like login problems, platform errors, or site functionality and features — the best and fastest help will come from OIT or the CampusPress teams. How do I get technical support for my UCI Sites website? Technical support is available through the UCI Sites and CampusPress Support knowledge base and help desk. UCI Sites Help Center Faculty Websites Help Center What is a vanity URL, and how do I request one? A vanity URL is a memorable web address (like "your-center.medicine.uci.edu") that's easier for people to recall and type. It's an important brand recognition tool that conveys trust and professionalism. The DCT can partner with you to craft clear and compelling School of Medicine-branded vanity URL options. Once you have a few final options, you can request the new URL directly from UCI Sites. Custom UCI Sites Domains Faculty Websites Domains Ownership & Responsibility FAQs Are there any costs associated with using the UCI Sites platform? The Office of Information Technology (OIT) provides the core UCI Sites platform free of charge. This means you have a powerful, secure foundation for your website at no cost. You will only incur costs if you hire external vendors or request paid support services, such as specialized design work or site management, from CampusPress, OIT, vendors or student workers. As the primary site owner, what are my responsibilities? Your team is the key to a successful website. As the primary site owner, you have total oversight over your site's content and are responsible for its upkeep. We're here to support your digital strategy and brand, but it will be your team's role to keep all information current, accurate and accessible to your visitors. Who is responsible for maintaining and updating the site? Your center, institute or research lab team is the primary owner and content manager of your site. This gives you direct control to keep your information current, accurate and accessible to your audience. We're here to provide the resources and guidance, but you'll be your site's content expert. UCI Sites and CampusPress maintain your site's security, stability and platform updates. Policy FAQs Why can't my site be on the School of Medicine Drupal platform? Our Drupal platform is currently configured to support a specific scope of School of Medicine units. To ensure our team can provide dedicated management and technical stability for each site in this environment, we limit new additions based on our current support capacity. We are committed to a stable and secure digital presence for the school and will provide updates as our platform roadmap and resources allow for further development. Why can't our site include direct patient-facing content? School of Medicine websites should highlight our research, academic programs and administrative information. The UCI Health team manages and maintains all patient-facing content to ensure patients receive consistent, compliant and on-brand information. This guarantees that all clinical information is accurate and easy for patients and consumers to find. We're happy to connect you with the UCI Health team to discuss your patient-facing content needs and help you find the right home for your information.