symbol for authentication required denotes that authentication is required.

Group Web Sites

There are several options available for groups that wish to have a web site at UM. There are two content management systems (CMS) available - UM SiteMaker and Drupal - that allow you to develop and maintain your site using only your web browser with no need to learn additional software or languages. Alternatively, you can use web editing software called Dreamweaver (from Adobe) to manage sites with or without any knowledge of web languages. Options are described below, including a "which should I use?" section.

If you are looking to set up web space for purposes of collaboration but not to make a public web site, CTools is ideally suited for your group project. Collaborators can share resources and create e-mail archives. More information on Ctools can be found on our CTools Support pages.

UM SiteMaker CMS

UM.SiteMaker is a CMS developed here at UM. Many groups have used it to set up and maintain their group web sites. Here are a few examples:

More information on UM.SiteMaker can be found on our SiteMaker Support pages.

Drupal CMS

ITCS offers web sites that use the Drupal CMS via their Web Application Sign-Up Service. Drupal which allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a web site. Here are a few examples of UM Drupal sites:

ITCS-Hosted Dreamweaver Sites

ITCS provides an option for faculty & staff who would simply like an allocation of online file space to develop their own group web pages. To request AFS course space, simply fill out the form listed on the ITCS page and submit it to the ITCS Accounts Office.

SPH-Hosted Dreamweaver Sites

School of Public Health Computing Services provides free web hosting for groups or centers clearly affiliated with the School of Public Health. These groups should consult with Web Services, but are responsible for developing and maintaining their own web sites. A list of such groups is provided on our Research Centers & Initiatives page. We also host several student groups.

If the person designated responsible for developing and maintaining the web site does not know how to create web sites using HTML, we recommend that they use the Adobe Dreamweaver web page editing program. Dreamweaver is available on all UM Computing Sites computers as well as the computers in the Public Health Library's Multimedia Lab.

Dreamweaver may be purchased at a discount from the following sources:

M-MarketSite via Wolverine Access
the UM Computing Showcase
Adobe using their education store.

The Teaching & Technology Collaborative provides free hands-on Dreamweaver training workshops during Fall and Winter semesters. SPH Web Services also holds Dreamweaver workshops. Dreamweaver training is also offered by the ITCS Education Services.

If needed, SPH Web Services can provide you with a list of vendors that groups have worked with before. Mary Beth Lewis, the school’s Web Editor, will be happy to look over web site content and suggest changes that will make it more consistent with the content on the SPH web site. Patty Bradley, the Web Administrator, will be happy to assist with the uploading of initial files, and provide technical expertise.

Group web sites do not need to match the look and feel of the SPH web site. However, the Web Administrator will be happy to provide the group with a template if they wish to have their site look like the rest of the SPH web site. This template is to be used with Adobe Dreamweaver.

Once a group has decided to host their web site at SPH, they should follow the following steps:

Familiarize yourselves with our Web Publishing Guidelines.
Decide what the URL of the web site will be on the SPH web server. All URLs on the SPH web server start with http://www.sph.umich.edu/. The group needs to choose one short word, with all lower case letters and no spaces or special characters. This word will become the name of the folder that all their web site files are kept in on the SPH web server. For example, the Michigan Center for Genomics and Public Health’s URL is http://www.sph.umich.edu/genomics/. All of the web site files for this web site are in a folder called genomics.
The SPH staff member who will be updating the web site needs to get a free SPH Kerberos account, if they do not have one already, via this form . When the staff member fills out the form, they can tell SPH Computing Services that they need their space on the web server set up, and what their folder will be called.
Once SPH Computing Services has completed the request, the group’s space on the web server will be ready to have files uploaded to it. Files can be uploaded via Dreamweaver or SSH.
Once the site is launched, ask the Office of Communications if it is appropriate to put a link to the new web site among the major centers and initiatives (mostly multidisciplinary) listed on the Research Center & Initiatives page. This request can be initiated through an e-mail to sph.web@umich.edu, which is monitored by the Web Editor from the Office of Communications.
Contact Web Services about setting up web site usage statistics and broken link reports.

Which Should I Use?

Which platform is best for your group (SiteMaker, Drupal, or a SPH- or ITCS-hosted Dreamweaver site) depends on several factors. While there is a learning curve associated with each tool, we find that a CMS like SiteMaker or Drupal is best for people with little or no web development experience. One benefit to a CMS is that multiple people can maintain the same site with ease. Every person who updates a site using Dreamweaver needs Dreamweaver training and an account that authorizes them to access the web server.

SiteMaker includes data tables, making it easy to set up database-driven pages such as event registration systems that would not be possible for a novice using Dreamweaver. There is also a fairly large support-group on campus for SiteMaker. And as the SiteMaker Administrator for SPH, Patty Bradley can provide a great deal of assistance for SiteMaker sites.

Drupal also has a support group at UM, and an even larger one outside of UM. Countless themes (or templates or skins) as well as modules that enhance functionality have been developed, and these can be added to your site if approved by the UM Drupal team. See the Web Application Sign-Up Service for more information.

Still confused? Contact Web Services to talk about your group's particular needs.

Your Domain Name

If you would like to register an external domain, such as www.mygroup.org, and have it pointed to your web site, SPH Web Services would be delighted to set that up for you. The cost of registering a domain is $12 a year. Please contact us for more information.

Please see our SPH Subdomain options for SPH-affiliated Group Web Sites page for information on SPH subdomains.