Create your own website
Options
Primary options for webpages and blogs
- Aalto.fi: easily create webpages with Drupal on the Aalto University website in the form of hubs or research groups. This is ideal for initiatives fully run by Aalto University, that would like to stay inside the aalto.fi umbrella site and/or with no budget for website presence.
- Ourblogs.aalto.fi: start your own blog with Drupal and post content about your project. This is a great way to showcase the added value of your activities in a more personal way.
For webpages/websites without the Aalto look and feel
- Drupal spin-off site: it is the same technical solution used by aalto.fi with possibilities for own branding and customisation. This is recommended for bigger initiatives, including joint projects where different institutions are involved. This will come with a bigger cost than the rest of the options.
- Project sites: Quickly create a WordPress website from a given template for a project with its own brand. It is ideal for low budget projects that do not have a lot of time for digital communication but need a website presence outside of aalto.fi.
For events and conferences
- Aalto.fi events: create simple event pages for internal and external audiences. The events will be displayed in the event listings on aalto.fi.
- Event management tool: build event webpages with Blackthorn (SalesForce) to provide a higher level of customisation, collect registrations and send marketing and transactional emails. The tool also ensures automatic synchronisation to aalto.fi events.
For personal information and promotion
- Aalto researchers' profiles: The research information portal research.aalto.fi contains the profiles of Aalto University researchers (login at acris.aalto.fi).
- Personal profiles on aalto.fi: Aalto University staff can edit their own aalto.fi profiles to inform about their work.
- Ourblogs.aalto.fi: create a blog to post about your own work.
- Cargo: primarily meant for creative students, you can build your own portfolio, project idea or client presentation out of the many available templates. You may order a code through this form to get Cargo site.
For collaboration
- Wiki pages: Collaboration and webpage tool for research projects and events.
For advanced users - do it yourself
- You can build your own site utilizing Aalto University web-hosting agreements or web servers. This requires a greater skillset to develop webpages. Please read more below and contact IT Services to consult the options.
- The Design System can be used to build a website front-end to ensure visual consistency as well as solution that fulfills accessibility standards through the ready made UI component library.
Website comparison
| Option | Setup costs | Custom features |
Multilingual support |
Security and accessibility |
Example | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aalto.fi | Free | Some* | Yes | High | 1- Hub 2- Research group |
[email protected] |
| Ourblogs.aalto.fi | Free | No | No | High | Blog | [email protected] |
| Spin-off sites | Starting from 2,500€ | Yes (paid features) | Yes | High | 1- Basic 2- Premium |
[email protected] |
| Project sites | 200€ | Some* | No | High | Project sites | [email protected] |
| Event management tool | Free | Yes (free of cost) | Yes | High | Aalto Day One | [email protected] |
| Aalto researchers' profiles | Free | No | No | Security: high Accessibility: basic |
Researcher profile | [email protected] |
| Personal profiles on aalto.fi | Free | Not yet | Yes | High | Aalto.fi profile | [email protected] |
| Cargo | Free | Yes | No | Security: yes Accessibility: own responsibility |
David Archiv | [email protected] |
| Wiki pages | Free | Yes (paid features) | No | Security: high Accessibility: poor |
*Pages can be built with a large set of ready-made components.
More information
Skills required (ease of use)
With the exception of the 'do-it-yourself' alternative, all the other options only require a basic understanding of web editing in Content Management Systems (CMS) solutions (Drupal or Wordpress). Online instructions and tutorials are available for new editors.
Hosting
Drupal and WordPress solutions are hosted using Aalto servers, keeping the data safe and local. The event Management tool, Wiki and Cargo sites are SaaS hosted in cloud services. For advanced users who build a site on their own with a different solution, hosting can be done through Aalto virtual servers, you will get guidance as needed. All these options are free of cost.
Domain policy and applying for a domain
New domains are reserved during the website creation process. If the site is to be in the format name.aalto.fi, Aalto Communication services shall approve your choice of domain before Aalto IT creates the domain name. If the domain already exists and you want to continue to use it in a newly create site, Aalto IT will redirect it. Read more information about domains.
Web analytics
You can make use of Google Analytics on Drupal sites and WordPress analytics for WordPress sites. Web analytics will give you insights on page views, traffic sources, user behaviour, searched terms and much more. Read more.
Your responsibilities
If you decide to create your webpage with the official and ready-made tools offered by Aalto University, it is important to understand that any content you create is of your responsibility. Otherwise the technical requirements and maintenance is provided by Aalto.
If you use other tools by third parties, or create your own, it is important to remember to take accessibility, GDPR matters and information security into account. Remember that maintenance, including for example security updates, will also be your own responsibility.
FAQ
Most of the solutions offered above are maintenance-free. However, some fixed costs are paid for project.sites.aalto.fi (50€/month) while the spin-off sites might have some maintenance costs depending on the extra features requested.
No. As a matter of a fact blogs.aalto.fi is a completely different entity. While it is still in use by some people in the Aalto Community, we would rather recommend to use ourblogs.aalto.fi because of higher security and accessibility, and a better editor and user experience overall.
If the site is created with one of options offered above, there is no need to unpublish the site. However, if built with a different solution (as mentioned in the do-it-yourself section above), you can use the Aalto vhosts service free of charge in order to publish a static website when the need for site updates ends.
The above website solutions are mainly offered by IT services and or Communications services. You can email IT at [email protected] and Communications at [email protected].