We offer two new options for your website based on the popular WordPress and Drupal platforms. These platforms adhere to important University standards on security and accessibility, offer templates and features that are optimized for use at Harvard, and come with support and hosting from HUIT.
Your HarvardSite will be provided on the platform that best meets the needs for your site, or based on School requirements. Some Harvard Schools also offer additional platforms to eligible affiliates.
On this page:
Overview
Accessibility
Templates, design elements, and user interface adhere to University accessibility policies, best practices, and guidelines, making them accessible to all, including people with disabilities.
Security
Platforms are aligned with the University’s Information Security and Data Privacy guidelines to ensure websites are secure and protect user data.
User-Friendly templates
Flexible templates, pre-approved by Schools and Units, that meet University branding standards and guidelines, and provide intuitive, user-friendly navigation.
Support, hosting, and performance
On-premises support provided by HUIT, optimized websites for a better user experience, and hosting.
Training and resources
Regular instructor-led and on-demand trainings, and resources on topics such as content management, user experience, and accessibility.
Feature enhancements
Ongoing design and component feature requests and updates, based on user needs, goals, and technical feasibility.
Platform Comparison
| HarvardSites Drupal | HarvardSites WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| OpenScholar Migration Path | There is an automated means to export content from OpenScholar to Drupal, the site can be migrated. | There is not an automated means to export content from OpenScholar to WordPress, the site must be manually rebuilt. |
| Typical Website Use | Schools, departments, centers, initiatives, academic profiles | Academic profiles, event microsite, blog |
| Platform Distinction | Drupal-based enterprise-class offering, can service virtually any site-type. | WordPress-based, smaller scale websites |
Key Features
| HarvardSites Drupal | HarvardSites WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Support | Online documentation, training, service desk support (provided by HUIT) | Online documentation, training, service desk support (provided by CampusPress) |
| Platform Updates – Regular security and platform updates | Yes | Yes |
| Site Visibility Options | HarvardKey protection, and more granular user groups within Harvard (Grouper integration) | Public, Site Members Only |
| Site Login with HarvardKey | Yes | Yes |
| User Roles | Please refer to the How to Manage Users & Roles page | Please refer to the User Role Overview page |
| Data Security for Level 2 Data | Yes | Yes |
| URL Structure | Information Coming Soon | sites.harvard.edu/websitename |
| Custom harvard.edu Domains | Yes | Yes |
| Accessibility | Themes are vetted for accessibility. However, site owners are responsible for accessibility compliance of their content | Themes are vetted for accessibility. However, site owners are responsible for accessibility compliance of their content |
| Design Interface | Drupal Layout paragraphs | WordPress block editor (a.k.a, Gutenberg) |
| Flexible layout options | Yes | Yes |
| Design system-managed Harvard theme variations | Yes | Yes. Future Release |
| Design Customizations | Design modifications are managed by schools/units and HWP’s Design System | Design modifications will be managed by schools/units and HWP’s Design System |
| Taxonomy (Tagging) | Supports custom and faceted taxonomy (tagging of content) | Supports simple categories to tag posts |
| Duplicating and Cloning | Clone websites, pages, and components | Clone websites, pages, posts, and blocks |
| Import and Export | Yes. Future Release | Allows exporting of website data and importing from other WordPress sites and blogging services |
| Supports Google Analytics (GA4) and Google Tag Manager (GTM) | Yes | Yes |
| Additional Platform Features | HarvardSites Drupal | HarvardSites WordPress |
|---|---|---|
| People Profiles (Directory) | Yes | Yes |
| Blog/Announcements/News | News/Announcements functionality | Blog functionality |
| Calendar/Events | Yes | Yes. Uses the Calendar + Plugin. |
| Publications | Yes. Future Release. Dynamically add, tag, and display publications | No. Publications can be displayed as a static list on a page |
| Resources | Yes. Files, hyperlinks, and documents can be tagged and filtered | No. Lists of resources can be displayed as a static list on a page |
| FAQs | Yes | Yes |
| Post scheduling | Yes | Yes |
| Online forms – Allows embedding forms created in Qualtrics, Microsoft Forms, and Google forms | Yes | Yes |
| Site Portfolio Management | Yes. Supports governance across groups of sites | No |