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UBC Blogs Student Guide

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UBC Blogs is an interactive website-building platform where you can create websites for sharing content made by yourself or with a group. These websites can become a group blog, a personal portfolio, or anything you like—all built on a flexible WordPress foundation, which helps you implement different themes and add-on tools without having to learn code.
Access Immediate
Privacy Yes Verified by UBC’s Privacy Impact Assessment process.
Bandwidth Yes Low demand on internet connections.

What will I use it for?

You can use UBC Blogs to create websites for a variety of purposes:

  • Author a group website with your peers for a course or a club
  • Post individual assignments or projects
  • Display portfolios of or reflections on your work

This tool guide was last reviewed in July 2023.

What do I need to use UBC Blogs?

A supported web browser

UBC Blogs runs in your web browser and supports using Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari.

Tips

  • There is no limit to the number of UBC Blogs websites that you can have, but please create responsibly. Each website takes up UBC resources.

How do I use UBC Blogs?

You will first create a UBC Blogs website, then be able to customize it for your own purposes.

Click any bar below for instructions and tips for using UBC Blogs.

Expand All

> Log in to UBC Blogs and create an account

Log in to UBC Blogs and create an account

  1. If you don't have a UBC CWL (Campus-Wide Login), first follow the steps from UBC IT to create a UBC CWL account.
  2. Go to blogs.ubc.ca/wp-admin and log in with your UBC CWL.
  3. If this is your first time logging in, follow the prompts to complete signing up for your UBC Blogs account.

> Create your UBC Blogs website

Create your UBC Blogs website

  1. Go to the UBC Blogs sign-up page.
    • If you get an error in going to this page, follow the steps above to log in to UBC Blogs and create an account.
  2. Fill in the form:
    • Site Name - The site name will form part of the web address of your new website. All UBC Blogs have an address that starts with "blogs.ubc.ca" and then incorporates your site name. Note that the site name cannot be changed after you create it, so make sure you pick something that fits your website's purpose.
    • Site Title - The site title visibly adds a title to your website, but it does not affect the web address. You can change your site title at any time.
    • Site Language - Choose to display your website in English or French.
    • Privacy - You can allow search engines to index this website. Indexing means the website can be searched for and found by anyone on the internet. You can change this setting at any time; however, your website will not be removed from the search results immediately.
  3. Click Create Site.

Tips

  • Even if you make your whole website public, you can fine-tune the privacy of specific content to make it visible only to certain groups of people. This fine-tuning can be done by adding password protection to individual pages or posts, and then sharing the password only with those who should have access.
  • You can change the look and feel of your site by changing the theme. From the Dashboard of your UBC Blogs website, hover over "Appearance" in the sidebar and select "Themes". Hover over any theme and click "Activate" to use it.

> Add pages and posts to your UBC Blogs website

Add pages and posts to your UBC Blogs website

Pages are useful for displaying content on your site that is best organized in a hierarchical structure, as pages can have sub-pages underneath them.

Posts are useful for displaying date-based content on your site, as posts are organized in chronological order. Posts can also be grouped by categories or tags to make them easier to find at a later time.

  1. Log in to UBC Blogs with your UBC CWL and navigate to your website.
  2. From the Dashboard, hover over Pages or Posts (whichever you want to add) in the sidebar, and select Add New.
  3. Use the text editor to add content to the page or post. You can preview and save a draft of your work as you go.
    • In adding content to your pages and posts, be careful if you copy text from a file with formatting, such as a Word or OneDrive document. The file formatting is not always pasted consistently in UBC Blogs. It is best to paste in plain text alone, and add the formatting using the UBC Blogs text editor after.
  4. Explore different parts of the editing interface to find other customizable options for your page or post. For example, you can choose where it sits in the website hierarchy (for pages) or the category to display it in (for posts).
  5. When you are ready to put the content on your website, click Publish. Your page or post will be added for others to see.

Tips

  • If your website is public, remember to avoid sharing confidential information. Confidential information includes details like your student number, address, or other personal identifying information. The UBC Digital Tattoo site has more about how to protect your privacy online and carefully form your digital identity.
  • Pages are good for sharing your main content. For example, you could have pages for information about your background or projects. Underneath each page, you can create sub-pages to further organize your content.
  • Posts are good for sharing more time-based content. For example, you could use posts to publish announcements about upcoming events that you will be involved with or to showcase your projects chronologically.
  • Posts can be scheduled instead of immediately published. To schedule a post when you are creating it, click "Edit" next to the calendar icon under "Publish", select a date, and click "OK". You will see the button to publish change to say "Schedule".
  • For extra editing features, you can enable the Gutenberg editor. This editor adds time-savers like reusable blocks of content. From the Dashboard of your UBC Blogs website, hover over "Settings" in the sidebar, and select "Writing". Check the boxes for enabling Gutenberg features on pages, posts, blocks, and menus, then save your changes.

> Share a file on your UBC Blogs website

Share a file on your UBC Blogs website

You can share files such as images, PowerPoints, or PDFs on your website. Make sure that the files are your own or that you have the owner's permission to use the material first.

  1. Log in to UBC Blogs with your UBC CWL and navigate to your website.
  2. From the Dashboard, hover over "Media" in the sidebar, and select Add New.
  3. Select the file to upload.
  4. Tick the copyright permission that applies:
    • With the permission of the copyright holder(s) - Applies if you have created the image, have the permission of the copyright holder, or are using a Creative Commons license
    • Public Domain - Applies when the work is in the public domain (e.g., expired copyright or copyright has been waived)
    • Other - Applies for cases outside the above that require additional explanation
  5. Input any additional information regarding the copyright permissions in the textbox, e.g., "the image has CC by 4.0 license on it" or "permission to upload from the copyright holder via email".
  6. Click Upload. Once the upload completes, you will be able to link to or embed this file in your pages and posts.
  7. To add a hyperlink to your pages or post, which directs you to the uploaded file:
    • Edit you page or post.
    • Click Add Media above the text editor.
    • Click the file you want to use to open its "Attachment details" in the sidebar.
    • Under "File URL", click Copy URL to clipboard, then close the "Add media" window.
    • Within the text editor, select the wording that you want to use for the link, then click the link icon from the toolbar.
    • Paste the copied URL and click the arrow icon to apply the link to the text.
    • Click Update for the page or post to save your changes.
  8. To embed the uploaded file in your page or post:
    • Edit your page or post.
    • Click where you want to embed the file, then click Add Media above the text editor.
    • Select the file you want to embed, and click Insert into page or Insert into post.
    • Click Update for the page or post to save your changes.

Tips

  • UBC Blogs limits the size and amount of files that you can upload. Individual files can be up to a maximum of 20MB each. Each UBC Blogs website has an overall limit of 500MB.

> Set the navigation of your UBC Blogs website

Set the navigation of your UBC Blogs website

Menus in UBC Blogs are how you build navigation for people to move through the pages or posts on your website.

  1. Log in to UBC Blogs with your UBC CWL and navigate to your website.
  2. From the Dashboard, hover over "Appearance" in the sidebar, and select Menus.
  3. Fill in the "Menu Name", and click Create Menu to build your first menu.
  4. Under the "Add menu items" on the left-hand side, select what you want to include links to:
    • Pages - Link to pages that you have created.
    • Posts - Link to posts that you have created.
    • Custom Links - Link to web addresses, e.g., ubc.ca or media that you have uploaded.
    • Categories - Link to categories that you've used for posts. UBC Blogs will generate a page of all the posts under that category.
  5. After you have selected the links you want, click Add to Menu. You can sort the menu items by dragging and dropping them, once they are added.
  6. Under "Menu Settings", select a display location, that is, where you want the menu to display on the website. Different website themes may have different options for display locations.
  7. Click Save Menu to make your changes visible to everyone.

Tips

  • UBC Blogs websites assign different roles to people who join them, and these roles affect who can manage the website's menus. Only people with the role of "Administrator" can create and edit menus. If you have questions or need help with this, please contact us in the LT Hub.
  • Try to use fewer than ten items for the main navigation. More options than this can make your site confusing and overwhelming to navigate. Remember that you can use sub-pages to help with organization and trimming, e.g., link to a "Research Projects" overview page with sub-pages for each project.
  • Clearly differentiate and label your navigation items, so visitors know what to expect when they click each link. Think about what they may be coming to the website to find or do, and use your navigation to guide them in the right direction.

> Add people to your UBC Blogs website

Add people to your UBC Blogs website

You can use the email or self-signup options below to invite people to your UBC Blogs website. For these options to work, the individuals you invite must already have UBC Blogs accounts. Depending on how people join your website, they can follow the content that you share or even contribute to it.

This method is useful if you want to give access only to certain people.

  1. Log in to UBC Blogs with your UBC CWL and navigate to your website.
  2. From the Dashboard, hover over "Users" in the sidebar, and select Invite User.
  3. Enter the person's email.
  4. Select a role for the person on your website:
    • Administrator - can do anything on the website, including adding and removing users
    • Editor - can publish posts and pages and edit others' content
    • Author - can publish posts and pages but only edit their own content
    • Contributor - can write posts and pages but cannot publish them without approval
    • Subscriber - cannot write content but can access it, even if the website is private
  5. Click Add User(s).

This method is useful if you want people to sign themselves up to join the site.

  1. Log in to UBC Blogs with your UBC CWL and navigate to your website.
  2. Click Plugin in the sidebar of the Dashboard, find the "Add Users Sidebar Widget" plugin, and click Activate. This widget will let you add a signup form to your website.
  3. From the Dashboard, hover over "Appearance" in the sidebar, and select Widgets.
  4. Click where you would like the widget to appear on the website layout, then click the plus sign on the top left to open the widgets panel.
  5. Find and click the Add Users widget. Note that you can move the widget by selecting it and using the options presented to change the placement.
  6. When the "Add Users" widget has been added, enter a title and select the role you would like people who sign up to have:
    • Author - can publish posts and pages but only edit their own content
    • Contributor - can write posts and pages but cannot publish them without approval
    • Subscriber - cannot write content but can access it, even if the website is private
  7. To block unwanted people from signing up, check Add a password to stop unwanted users from signing up.
  8. Set the password and click Save. Remember to distribute the password when you invite people to sign up.
  9. Click Update in the top right corner of your screen to save your changes.

Tips

  • Anyone you invite by email or using the self-signup must have a UBC Blogs account first. Ask invitees to create a UBC Blogs account by logging in with their UBC CWL at blogs.ubc.ca/wp-admin.

Where can I get more support with UBC Blogs?

Technical support

If you have trouble with UBC Blogs:

Online learning support

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