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University of Washington

Your First Site…

UW Sites WordPress Basics and Other Pointers

Log In

  • Visit sites.uw.edu and click on
    Site Login in the menu at the top.
  • Enter your UW NetID and password.
  • After authentication, you’ll see the UW Sites homepage.
  • Hover on My Sites in the upper left corner and select your site.

    My Sites dropdown screenshot
  • You will then see the WordPress dashboard and can start adding content.

Troubleshooting Tip:
If you’re using a Shared UW NetID and having trouble logging in:

  • Clear your browser’s cache and cookies, then try again.
  • Or try logging in using a different browser.

Important Notes

  • You must log in at least once to set up your account. After that, other site owners can add you to their sites.
  • A UW NetID is required.
  • Site content can be public or private depending on site privacy settings. Viewers do not need a NetID unless restrictions are applied.
    • Site visibility ≠ media privacy: Even restricted sites may expose uploaded files if their direct URLs are known.
    • Do not upload sensitive content (e.g., student data, health info, legal docs).
    • Use a secure storage for private files—link/embed instead of uploading.
    • Media is tagged to discourage search indexing, but privacy is not guaranteed.

    Best Practice: CampusPress is for publishing, not secure storage.

If a user does not have a UWNETID, any current UW faculty or staff member can sponsor individuals for a Sponsored UW NetID or use a Shared UWNETID to log in.
Sponsored UW NetID
Shared UW NetID

First Steps

The UW Sites service is provided by CampusPress, which offers comprehensive documentation:

Important! – The UW Sites service should not be used to store confidential data.

Writing/Editing Posts, Pages, and Comments

Appearance and Themes

Your site’s appearance is controlled by a theme. More than 200 are available through the UW Sites dashboard.
You cannot install themes from outside sources.
For best results on mobile, choose a responsive theme.

See Appearance and Themes for more details.

Profile and Avatar (User Photo)

Media Library Files

All files uploaded to the Media Library are publicly available regardless of site visibility settings.

  • Site visibility ≠ media privacy: Even restricted sites may expose uploaded files if their direct URLs are known.
  • Do not upload sensitive content (e.g., student data, health info, legal docs).
  • Use a secure storage service to store private files—link/embed them instead of uploading.
  • Media is tagged to discourage search indexing, but privacy is not guaranteed.Best Practice: CampusPress is for publishing, not secure storage.

Abandoned Blogs

Each year, every blog owner whose blog has not had any page or post updates in the past year will be emailed a notice about the lack of activity and alerted that if there is no response to the inquiry within thirty days, the blog will be deactivated, then deleted.