Transfer and/or Remove a Weebly People.ua.edu website

In January, CIT (Center for Information Technology) stopped accepting new site requests from graduate students.
Now it is time to transition ALL graduate student websites away from people.ua.edu.
The decision to discontinue the use of Weebly (the people.ua.edu platform) for graduate student websites is based on the following factors:
  1. Security Concerns: Weebly, the platform used for people.ua.edu websites, has experienced increasing security issues, raising concerns about the safety of the websites hosted on it.
  2. Accessibility Challenges: Weebly's platform has limitations in terms of accessibility, rendering some of its features unusable for individuals with disabilities. These accessibility concerns affect site visitors and owners and put any Weebly-based site out of compliance with UA technology accessibility policy and with federal requirements. As a result, we have explored alternative options that provide a higher level of accessibility and flexibility. See UA Web Resources Accessibility Policy for more details.
  3. Enhanced Alternatives: UA offers two other website creation methods that are readily available to all students - Adobe Portfolio and MS Sway. Both options provide greater flexibility and creativity without requiring CIT staff intervention. 

Alternatives to Weebly People.ua.edu

UA offers two solutions: Adobe Portfolio (part of Adobe Creative Cloud) and Microsoft Sway (part of Microsoft 365 Education). Both products are available to all UA staff, faculty, and students. Watch the video to learn more about each tool.
  • Adobe Portfolio is part of Adobe Cloud which provides several apps and services.  There are tutorials available through Adobe and CIT workshops.  
  • Microsoft Sway is part of Microsoft 365 Education which includes many applications for work essentials, collaboration, organization, and even apps for fun. Tutorials and training can be found at Microsoft's Sway Help & Learning website. 
​​For both tools, log in using your mybama credentials to get started.
OR you are welcome to move your content to any web platform of your choosing. 

The Site Transfer Process

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STEP 1: Download current People.ua.edu site
  1. Log in to the site editor (https://uofa.weeblycloud.com/portal)
  2. Click on the Settings tab and scroll to the field Archive. Enter your email address and click “Email Archive”. You will receive a zip file with all the files, text, and images on your site. If the zip file does not arrive in your inbox, return to the Archive field and the zip file will appear there available for download.
  3. If Google Analytics code is added to your site, copy and save the code to paste in your new site analytics. You'll find the code under the Settings tab, SEO section. Once the code has been added to the new site, you may need to make some adjustments to the Google Analytics account. Login at http://analytics.google.com using your associate gmail or crimson email. The following article provides detailed instructions - How to continue using Google Analtycis when switching Domains. 
STEP 2: Create your new site
  1. Adobe Portfolio – https://portfolio.adobe.com/. Log in using your UA credentials.  Adobe urls  by default end with .myportfolio.com and can be customized. Ex. https://jsmith.myportfolio.com
  2. MS Sway – https://sway.office.com. Log in using your UA credentials. Sway urls are generated randomly. Ex. https://sway.office.com/djss34 ​
  3. Other web platform of your choice. 
STEP 3: Request your url redirect from OIT
  • Complete the form at the bottom of this page. 
  • You will be notified when your existing url is connected to your new website.

Download printable instructions here.

Still have questions?

Never fear, CIT is here! We know this can be stressful, but we are here to answer your questions and help you along the way. Hop over to our Q&A page where we've tried to answer the most commonly asked questions. If that's not enough, send us an email at [email protected]. We'll do all we can to help make the process of moving your site easier.

    Request to forward web address and/or remove people.ua.edu site 

    Please confirm that you have downloaded the contents of your existing people.ua.edu website and are ready for CIT to remove it.