Website Management
Core University Website
UNC Asheville’s core website, unca.edu, is supported by the University Web Team, a collaborative group of staff from Communication & Marketing and ITS.
The core website is often the first way prospective students and families, community members, and the general public interact with us. The content on the core website is primarily intended to serve those audiences and is maintained by Communication & Marketing. ITS supports the functional aspects of the website.
University Website Subpages
Each department, program, and office on campus has an official University website (e.g., unca.edu/biology), also known as a subsite. UNC Asheville has a network of about 120 subsites. The content of each site is managed by a web editor in that department or office—typically the administrative assistant. Some departments may have multiple editors.
If your website needs edits but you don’t know who to ask, or if you would like access to edit your website, please fill out a Web Edit Request Form.
Many of the pages on the core website provide overview information and link to subsites for more details. In addition to keeping your subsite up-to-date, we recommend you review the content about your department, program, or work on the core site at least once a semester and please fill out a Web Edit Request Form if it needs updates.
You’ll find that some content is structured by topic and not by department, office, or program, as users outside of our campus community often look for information based on what it’s about instead of who maintains it.
Web Governance Policy
The UNC Asheville Web Governance Policy establishes roles, responsibilities, and content standards for all University websites. Find CMS access information, content review requirements, and web editing resources here.
Web Training & Support
Web Training & Support
When you submit a request, we’ll schedule a training session with you. Questions or need a refresher? Submit a Web Edit Request Forms.
Website Best Practices
As a public institution, UNC Asheville is legally required under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to make digital content accessible to everyone — including users with visual, auditory, or motor impairments who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers. Accessibility is also a core expression of our values around diversity and inclusion, and should be treated as part of our brand standard.
WordPress will prompt you for things like alt text as you build pages, which helps — but it won’t catch everything. All web editors should familiarize themselves with current accessibility best practices. For questions or to schedule a training with the web team by filling out a Web Edit Request Form
| Do |
| Always add descriptive alt text to images in WordPress. Write it like you’re describing the image to someone over the phone — be specific, not just “photo” or “image.” |
| Write descriptive link text. “Download the Student Handbook” is good. “Click here” tells users nothing — especially those using a screen reader to navigate by links. |
| Always include closed captions on video content. Auto-generated captions (YouTube, Zoom, etc.) are a starting point only — always review and correct them before publishing. They routinely mangle course names, faculty names, and academic terminology. |
| Include a written transcript for audio-only content like podcasts whenever possible. |
| Make sure any video or audio player on your page can be paused, stopped, and controlled by the user — not just set to autoplay. |
| When linking to a PDF, set it to open in a new tab and use descriptive link text — e.g., 2024–25 Financial Aid Guide (PDF, opens in new tab). If you didn’t create the PDF yourself, don’t assume it’s accessible — contact the web team to have it checked. If you did create it, run Adobe Acrobat’s built-in accessibility checker before posting. |
| Check that your text and background colors have enough contrast to be legible. Test your colors with this free contrast checker. |
| Don’t |
| Post a flyer or poster as an image without also including its text somewhere on the page. If it has an event date, time, location, or cost — that information must exist in readable text too. |
| Post a video without closed captions. There are no exceptions — a written transcript alone is only acceptable in rare, documented circumstances. |
| Use “Click here,” “Read more,” or “This link” as your link text. A good test: if you removed the hyperlink, would the text still tell you where you’re going? |
| Use flashing, strobing, or rapidly animated content. These can trigger seizures and are an ADA violation. |
| Assume a PDF is accessible just because the text appears readable on screen. PDFs frequently fail accessibility standards even when they look fine — proper tagging and document structure are required for screen readers to navigate them correctly. |