Anyone with a CNet ID can be added as a user of a Voices site. To be added as a user, one must first go to voices.uchicago.edu and login with their CNet username and password. Once the user has logged in to Voices, any user with administrator permissions can add the user to their Voices website by going to Dashboard > Users > Add New. Under “Add Existing User”, enter the user’s CNet email address and set their role. (Note: Do not use “Add New Users”, as users will not be able to log-in with their CNetID and password if added this way). View a comparison chart of the 5 possible roles.

All self-service Voices users require a CNetID. If a visitor or collaborator from another institution needs to edit your site, you can request that they be given temporary CNet credentials under the Trusted Agent (TAG) program.

Once you have created a site and chosen a URL (e.g., voices.uchicago.edu/sitename), you cannot directly change or edit it to a different URL (e.g., voices.uchicago.edu/differentsitename); you must create a new site with your preferred URL. If you have already done significant work and customizations to your site, you can submit a request to: webwork@uchicago.edu for Web Services staff to make a copy or clone of your site that uses a different name.

You can export your site until your UChicago account is closed. You can export your site as an XML file. This file however will contain only post and page content, not styling information or media files (although those can be downloaded individually). You can import your XML file to a WordPress.com site or your own hosted WordPress installation. Find the Export feature in your Dashboard under the Tools menu.

Yes. Entire self-service sites can be set as private and only accessible through the use of a password you choose (via your Dashboard under Settings > Reading > Site Visibility: Anyone That Visits Must First Provide This Password). Individual pages can also be password-protected by a password of your choosing (via your Dashboard under Pages > Edit Page > Publish > Visibility: Password Protected).

Yes. You can create as many UChicago self-service websites as you want.

Yes. Please reach out to Web Services to discuss creating a custom Voices site for a fee.

One of the benefits of the Visual Builder is that it allows you to adjust the spacing on your site by clicking and dragging the borders of rows and sections on your page to expand or restrict them. However, occasionally the spacing you see while working in the Visual Builder is not what you see when you save your changes and exit the Visual Builder. It is recommended to double-check your edits and make sure the live page reflects the layout you desire. You are always free to make spacing edits in the back-end editor instead of the Visual Builder by clicking on the row, section, or module in question and selecting Design > Spacing. Always be sure to save any changes you make to your site before switching between the Visual Builder and the back-end editor, as unsaved changes will be lost.

Not all at once, but you can restore any previously saved versions of individual pages on your site. In the back-end editor for each page on your site, you will see a section titled Revisions with a timestamped list of each saved version of the page as well as (and the user who saved the edit). In order to restore a previous version of your page, click on the edit in question and then select Restore This Revision. While your site will automatically save versions of your page at certain time intervals, the more often you save edits to your page the more options you will have to restore.

Yes. In order to create an item that can be shared across your site (e.g., a banner, header, or specific module), you will need to save that item to your Library. You will then be able to Add From Library the item you have saved, rather than having to recreate that item on separate pages.

To save an item to your Library, open the section, row, or module item you wish to save, and select Save & Add to Library. You will then be prompted to name your Library item and choose whether to Make This a Global Item; Adding a Template Name allows you to identify your Library item for further use. Categories should not be necessary unless you will be using multiple Library items throughout your site. Saving a Library item as “global” will make all versions of that item on your site mutually responsive. This means that if you change the global item on one page, it will also update on all the other pages on which it appears. If you choose not to make your item global, then each version you add to your site from your Library will be independently customizable. In order to add a Library item to different pages on your site, simply go to your back-end editor for the page in question and select Add From Library.

Yes. There is a plugin called Formidable Forms which allows users to build and embed forms in self-service websites. To use the Formidable Forms plugin on your site go to Dashboard > Plugins and search Forms. Activate the Formidable Forms plugin and reload your Dashboard. You should now see a Formidable link in your Dashboard menu. Get more information on the Formidable plugin. 

Whether you can remove the sidebar that appears when you use the search function will depend on whether you are using the sidebar in another part of your site (e.g., on a blog page). If you are using the sidebar somewhere else on your site, there is unfortunately no way to remove it from the search results page. However, if you are not planning on using the sidebar anywhere on your site, you can remove it from your search results page by editing the Sidebar widget in your Dashboard.

To do so, go to your Dashboard > Appearance > Widgets. You should see a Sidebar widget on the right side of the page, with content such as Search, Recent Posts, etc. Select each item nested within the Sidebar widget and delete it. When you have finished, test out the Search function. You should see an empty space where the sidebar previously appeared. Unfortunately, it is not possible to remove this space completely.

There are two ways to approach changing the layout of your site for mobile platforms: changing site-wide mobile settings, or changing mobile settings item by item (for specific modules, such as videos, etc.). In order to edit site-wide mobile settings, go to your Dashboard > Divi > Theme Customizer > Mobile Styles. Here you will be able to see how your site appears on mobile devices, and edit section and row height and text size on mobile devices. You will also be able to modify the appearance of your menu on mobile devices.

In order to edit mobile settings within a specific module, go to the Design section of the module. Next to certain settings (such as Custom Padding) you should see a smartphone icon. Clicking on this icon enables you to see options to edit that module setting for Desktop, Tablet, or Smartphone platforms. Other settings may require you to alter the original setting before a smartphone icon will appear, offering you the same three options (Desktop, Tablet, and Smartphone) for modifying the settings. Finally, you have the option to disable certain modules on mobile platforms. Go to the Advanced section of the module in question, and under Visibility, select the platforms on which you would like the module to be disabled. Learn more about Divi Mobile Customizer Settings.

UChicago provides the same themes and plugins for anyone using the platform. You may activate any plugins that are available through the UChicago Voices platform. Edublogs (the hosting service for Voices) is a closed version of WordPress, and not all WordPress plugins are available. If you’d like to use a plugin that isn’t currently available, contact IT Services. IT Services can contact the vendor, CampusPress, for approval of the use of that plugin; with approval, we can install the plugin for you.

No, the self-service platform is hosted by Edublogs, which is a closed version of WordPress. IT Services provides a single default theme, the UChicago theme. Should you require the use of a different theme, please submit a request detailing your situation.

No, but there are two ways to work around this:

• IT Services can redirect another URL to your site so that when people load your preferred URL, they are automatically taken to your site at its voices.uchicago.edu URL.

• IT Services can “domain-map” a different uchicago.edu URL to your Voices site so that your site operates with that preferred URL, and the voices.uchicago.edu URL is seen only by administrators. Please note, domain-mapping requires approval by University Communications.

To request a redirect or a domain-mapping, please submit a request.

If your site is not appearing in Google search results, this may be because it has not yet been indexed by Google's web crawling robot. Google surveys all sites on the internet using an algorithmic process. This process is slow and it may take several weeks for Google to discover your site. Once a site is found by Google, it takes additional time for Google to index (understand the content of) the site.

Many people may assume their site is not on Google when in reality their site just ranks low in search results. Use the following method to determine whether or not your site has been indexed.

Checking if a site has been indexed

You can check if your site has been indexed by doing the following:

1. Open a new Google search
2. Search for your site using the format: “site:voices.uchicago.edu/sitename” 

This will search Google for your site’s URL. If there are no search results, this means your site has not yet been indexed and will not show up in Google search results. If there are results, this means that your site has been indexed, but may be ranking low in search results. 

If site is not being indexed

To decrease the time it takes for Google to find your site and index it, you can submit your site to Google Search Console. In order to submit your Voices website to Google Search Console, the Advanced Settings Plugin must be activated. Please contact Voices IT support in order to have the Advanced Settings Plug-in enabled for your site.

After a site is submitted to Google Search Console, it may take some time for your site to be indexed and show up in Google search results. You can check if your site has been indexed by using the same process under “Check if your site has been indexed” described above.

For more tips on helping Google find and crawl your website, visit Google’s documentation.