UT Shield

Ways to Get a Website

Last Updated September 2025

There are many ways to share your messaging online.  Working with us and your Communications team, we can help find the best tools for your needs. The first thing to consider is how your messaging fits in with other messaging within the college and perhaps your content can be included on the main department website. If you are part of the College of Fine Arts and have web related needs or questions, please contact us at cofawebmaster@austin.utexas.edu.

Below is a round-up of options for online content. For the services and tools used most in the college. you my wish to review our pros and cons comparison page.

New projects and major initiatives will require support from the dean, chairs or directors, will have to fit into the strategic plan and timeframes, and have a governance plan. All websites, including registered student organization’s sites, must comply with university policies and requirements.

We strongly encourage the use of UT-approved solutions, whenever possible. University services are more secure and stable than externally provided web services and the university staff can assist.

Students can use many of the services listed below and there may be other options that we are not aware of. Student organizations can promote on HornsLink and can try contacting the Office of the Dean of Students for additional resources.

On this page:

UT Drupal Kit (UTDK)

The College of Fine Arts web team provides stewardship for UTDK websites in the college.

UT Drupal Kit – Managed is a fully-managed web publishing service designed to allow non-technical users to build UT Austin branded public-facing websites. It has the features and functionality needed for most university content including news, events and profile content types. This service is used extensively by CSUs throughout the UT Austin. The cost depends on the amount of visitors the website has, ranging from $300 to $4000 a year.

The Enterprise Technology Consulting Services team can provide some customization, such as style edits or additional functionality to the UT Drupal Kit for a fee. The availability of this service varies.

University of Texas Blog Service (UBS)

The College of Fine Arts web team provides stewardship for CSUs using UT themed public facing UBS websites in the college.

University Blog Services is a university managed multisite version of WordPress. There is a UT Austin branded theme and several generic WordPress themes available. It is not as feature rich as UT Drupal Kit but is available for free. It is very satisfactory for a brochure website or news blog site and is used throughout the university, including for student organizations.

University Wikis

University Wikis can be created and organized like a public facing website and be set to allow anonymous visitors access without logging in, but are generally best for internal communications.

SharePoint

SharePoint is a free enterprise document, content, knowledge management and intranet-based web applications in Microsoft 365. Like UT Box (see below), SharePoint can be used to share assets.  Public or private permission to access files via share links in UT Box or SharePoint are easily managed using the built-in capabilities of the platform. Make sure to disable the expiration date on shared links. It can also be used to create web forms and calendars.

UT Box

Like SharePoint (see above), UT Box can be used to share assets. Public or private permission to access files via share links in UT Box or SharePoint are easily managed using the built-in capabilities of the platform. Make sure to disable the expiration date on shared links.

Texas ScholarWorks

Texas ScholarWorks was established to provide open, online access to the products of the University’s research and scholarship. The platform provides a persistent web address to these materials.

Texas Data Repository

Texas Data Repository is a platform for publishing and archiving datasets (and other data products) created by faculty, staff, and students. The platform provides a persistent web address to these materials.

Online Surveys and Forms

Use Qualtrics or SharePoint to create online surveys and forms.

Social Networks

Social networks, like Facebook make it easy to share your message and may be a good place for some programs and initiatives to get started. See a list of the social networks in the College. It’s important to talk to communications staff in your CSU about any social media use.

Solutions for Faculty Pedagogy

Faculty can use the Canvas Learning Management System. Faculty may want to reach out to the University Center for Teaching and Learning to learn more about Online Learning and Teaching. You will also find services and tools for faculty from the Enterprise Technology team.

Web Hosting and Server Space

For complex projects campus provides some build-it-yourself Web publishing option.

Pantheon Web Hosting is available for a fee you can use the Pantheon Web Hosting (previously called CMS Hosting Platform (CHP)) to build Drupal or WordPress website

Amazon Web Services (AWS) offered through a re-seller contract negotiated by the University. These services are intended for current faculty, staff, and researchers in need of cloud computing resources who want to pay only for what is used with the added safety of a University-negotiated contract. build-it-yourself Web publishing option

UT Web is free but requires extensive knowledge of programming languages. It is a complex interface.

Virtual Machine Gateway (UT-VMG) – is a Self-provisioned Virtual Machines (VM) or server space for more advanced projects that need a server space to build what ever interface or application needed.

Contract External Web or Cloud Services

If none of the above options will work for you and funding is available you could hire a contractor. Please contact us for guidance. Options to provide content online hosted by third party vendors to store data on servers outside of university control should only be considered if the content has no security risk. Read the Information Security Office’s Cloud Services guide on the risks of data mining, advertising, security, privacy and reliability before utilizing these services.