Overview
Dornsife departments, institutes, and units can use Dornsife WordPress to create and edit websites. This guide links to the resources available to help you create and edit a website in WordPress.
Contacting the Dornsife website project team
For any website-related questions, you can email webproject@dornsife.usc.edu.
Requesting access to WordPress
To request editing access to an existing Dornsife website:
To request a new Dornsife website:
Logging in to WordPress
Once you have been granted access, you can log into WordPress:
- Go to https://dornsife.usc.edu/wp-login.php.
- Click Sign on with USC Shibboleth.
- When prompted, enter your USC NetID and passphrase, and complete Duo authentication.
- WordPress logs you in. In the upper left, hover over My Sites to see the list of websites you have access to. Select a website.
- The admin dashboard appears, and you can begin editing the website. Use the left menu to navigate to different sections.
Managing multiple websites
If you are responsible for and have access to WordPress for multiple Dornsife departments or units, you can view them by hovering over or clicking My Sites in the upper left. To navigate to the admin dashboard for a website, select the website name or click Dashboard.
Familiarizing yourself with WordPress
Dashboard and navigation
When you log into WordPress, you have access to the administrative controls, also known as the WordPress dashboard. Use the left menu to navigate. You will work mostly in these two areas:
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Pages: View the full list of published and draft pages, and select individual pages to edit.
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Appearance > Menus: Edit the website menu.
Tasks for existing websites
If you joined an existing website, we recommend reviewing some published pages to understand their content and structure. Once you are logged in, visit any published page on your website and then use the top toolbar:
- To view the page in the WordPress editor: Click Edit in the top toolbar. You can inspect the page in the editor, but try to avoid making changes to it.
- To copy the page and edit it for practice: Select Duplicate Post and then select Copy to a new draft. This creates a new page that you can freely edit. Any changes you make to the copied draft will not affect the published page.
Tasks for new websites
Setting up a new website? We recommend starting with the following tasks:
A reminder about new websites: You can share published webpages via direct link, but a new website is not discoverable by Google or other search engines until you contact webproject@dornsife.usc.edu and request for your site to be made public. This lets you work on your website without worrying about site visitors finding it before you're ready.
Creating webpages
The best way to learn the WordPress editor is to dive right in and create a page:
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QRG: Creating and publishing a WordPress page: This guide breaks down the major steps of webpage creation and publishing, and links to additional guides for more detailed walkthroughs and explanations.
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Using the WordPress editor: This guide explains how to create a page and add content using the WordPress editor. It uses the default template and introduces you to working with components, which are the building blocks of Dornsife WordPress.
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Using the Chaptered Page template: This guide is intended for text-heavy informational pages, and explains how you can create a page with a chapter listing to the side for page navigation.
Technical guides
Our technical guides explain how to use the WordPress interface and editor to create different parts of your website, and include step-by-step instructions and screenshots. We are in the process of adding video walkthroughs to the written guides throughout 2026:
Content and design guides
Unsure how to organize your website information, or want to see examples of what's possible in WordPress? Check out the following guide from the Dornsife Office of Creative Content:
You'll learn to:
- Write for the web to engage visitors without overwhelming them
- Ensure that, no matter how many pages you have, they are on-brand and cohesive
- And many more usability tips and best practices to make your website professional and compelling
For comprehensive content and design resources, refer to the Dornsife website support hub:
Getting support
Help is available through many channels. You can:
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Request assistance
Email webproject@dornsife.usc.edu, whether your question is more technical or content-oriented.
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Ask a question or chat with other web editors on Slack
Email webproject@dornsife.usc.edu if you would like to join the dornsife-website-support Slack channel.
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Request a training session
Place a request, letting us know your availability, and we can provide a personalized WordPress orientation or refresher.
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Sign up for the Dornsife Download
The Dornsife Download is a newsletter that keeps web editors up to date with information about the USC Dornsife website.
Additional resources
USC's Office of Institutional Accessibility offers the following resources for learning more about web accessibility: