Lafayette WordPress accounts, used to create and maintain websites using the WordPress content management system, are available to all Lafayette College students and employees. Accounts must be used in accordance with the College’s Acceptable Use Policy, and Information Technology Services (ITS) reserves the right to limit the use of technologies that might compromise the security and integrity of the College’s IT resources.
Websites can be requested for:
- Departments/Offices
- College committees
- Student organizations
- Personal sites
- Events
- Courses/Class projects
Requests for WordPress accounts should be made using the Website Request form. The individual designated as the site administrator will be contacted within three business days with information about the account.
Website types
How a site is designed and developed, its web address, and how it will be linked to from the College website depend on the site’s function.
- Departments/Offices: Official divisions, departments, programs, and offices will be provided with a WordPress theme that conveys the site’s official College affiliation. The sites have Lafayette subdomain web addresses (e.g., engineering.lafayette.edu, govlaw.lafayette.edu) and are hosted on forge.lafayette.edu.
- Student organizations/College committees: Sites for student organizations and College committees are expected to represent the organization as a whole. Although pages on the site may be developed by any member(s) of the organization, the organization president or committee chair will be responsible for all content. These sites reside on sites.lafayette.edu and will have addresses that identify the organization or committee (e.g., sites.lafayette.edu/asb, sites.lafayette.edu/squash).
- Personal pages: Sites that represent a student’s or employee’s personal and academic interests are the creative expressions of the authors. These sites reside on sites.lafayette.edu and have addresses that include the Lafayette NetID (e.g., sites.lafayette.edu/ballyc).
- Events: Sites can be requested for one-time or recurring events. These sites reside on sites.lafayette.edu and have addresses that identify the event (e.g., sites.lafayette.edu/stemconference).
- Courses/Class projects: Faculty members may request WordPress sites for courses and/or class projects. An entire class, groups, or individuals can be given access to a site’s administrative tools. These sites reside on sites.lafayette.edu and have addresses that identify the course (e.g., sites.lafayette.edu/eng240-fa19). Faculty members requesting sites for courses and class projects will be contacted by an Instructional Technologist who can consult about site development.
WordPress Help
A collection of help documents on how to get the most out of (and into) your WordPress site is available on the Help website.
Site Administrators
To ensure the overall content and quality of the College’s web presence is high, a “primary administrator” is identified for each departmental and program website. The primary administrator serves as a single point of contact with the Web Content Management team.
We contact the primary administrator regarding the following:
- Communications regarding the health and quality of the site
- Information about WordPress training and updates to WordPress tools and services
- Outages or other critical events related to the site
- Reports concerning the quality and accessibility of the site
Site Tip
Use the Site Administrator Update Form to designate a new primary site administrator for your departmental or program website.