The On-boarding Process

Interested in creating and maintaining a site within UCR's Drupal environment? Please review the checklist and guidelines. 

On Site Hosting Only

For those who want hosting space only (a non-Drupal CMS site), the same oversight procedure will apply. The organizational manager will vet all requests. Hosting space will require knowledge of FTP, HTML, CSS, and other web technologies. ITS will not provide technical support. The requestor will be considered the owner of the site and will be held responsible for the content, making sure the website follows accessibility guidelines, and is not vulnerable to attacks (if the site is hacked, it will be taken down). Site owner is responsible for backing up the site. 

Fill out the same site request and select "No" when asked if you want a Drupal site. 

Guidelines

• Do a search of the UCR websites to make sure a site similar to your content has not already been created.
• Make sure the domain name has not already been taken.
• Personal websites are not permitted, therefore, no vanity URLs. 
• Students are not permitted to request a site. However, students are able to edit a website.

Checklist

1. Review the details of the service on the About page
2. Verify that your site is eligible for inclusion
3. Check to see if your unit has a dedicated organization manager
4. Familiarize yourself with training documentation
5. Submit the site request form, see the button link below. 

Request a Site

If your organization has an Organization Manager, your request will be directed to them for approval and initial setup. 

Please note that faculty in Engineering will need to speak to their Organization Manager first in order to proceed.

Request a Campus Website

This request is to obtain a Drupal website that is not yet launched at a *.ucr.edu domain. It will have a "live-ucr-sitename.pantheonsite.io" domain until you are ready to launch. 

Launching a Site

When ready to launch your site, please use the Launch a Drupal Website form. Launching a site means you are ready for your pantheonsite URL to be updated to the custom domain at "sitename".ucr.edu. Please request your launch at least 3 days in advance, as we cannot guarantee same day switch over.

Launch a Drupal Website

Pre launch checklist for Site owners:

1. Make sure your <front> (home) page is displaying correctly in the Site Configurations.  
2. Has your organization been updated? 
3. Does your footer display your department's information?
4. Have you removed or updated the top audience links?
5. Are all your navigation menu links working? If you are using drop downs, are the arrows displaying?
6. Are all documents that have been linked working correctly?
7. Is your text on teasers passing color accessibility at the AA level? Check on Accessible Colors. 
8. Have you set your redirects? If your site is moving to Drupal from another CMS, it is best to set redirects for your most prominent pages and files. Learn how to set redirects.

After launch

• Once you receive the "all clear" email stating your site has launched, you should be able to access the site at the launched URL (*sitename*.ucr.edu). It may take an hour or so to be able to log in at *yoursitename*.ucr.edu/cas. You can always use the Pantheon Site URL to edit, even after launch. However, you don't want to advertise this URL, so make sure you aren't linking to the pantheon domain anywhere on your site.
• Optionally, you can request your site be added to Siteimprove, our accessibility and SEO tool. Having access will allow you to see reports, updated weekly, on how to improve your site's accessibility and search engine optimization.
• All sites that launch also have Google Analytics. In order to view your site's Google Analytics you'll need access provided for you by University Communications, email webteam@ucr.edu.