Contents
Introduction
Reclaim Hosting created a product called “Domain of One’s Own” (DoOO). We have our own version of this product at Carleton College called "CarlSites." You may have heard these terms tossed around. This article aims to help you gain a better understanding of this service by explaining some of the terms and mapping out how they work with one another.
With CarlSites, our students, faculty, and staff can set up their own webspaces to create a digital presence through the use of academic websites.
The first step to set up your webspace is to complete our interest form. Then, we will work with you to determine which of the services within CarlSites will meet your needs.
Visual Hierarchy
Commonly Used Terms
CarlSites
CarlSites is now the official name of our DoOO instance at Carleton College. You can access the landing page by going to sites.carleton.edu.
Domain of One's Own (DoOO)
DoOO is a product by Reclaim Hosting. Carleton College owns an instance of DoOO called CarlSites for students, faculty, and staff to create a digital presence through the use of academic websites.
Reclaim
Reclaim is our shorthand for Reclaim Hosting. Reclaim Hosting is a company that has several products; of these products, Carleton licenses for a Carleton-specific Domain of One's Own.
Digital Presence/Webspace
A collection of information accessible via a web browser.
Domain
Simply put, a domain is a website address where you can share your content online. The domain name takes the shape of a url ending in sites.carleton.edu.
Subdomain
Subdomains act as additional websites with their own unique content without having to register a new domain name. For example: sites.carleton.edu is a domain and blogs.sites.carleton.edu is a subdomain.
Subdirectory
Subdirectories are very similar to subdomains. They are an alternative for organizing your space; similar to a folder within a folder, though the structure is a little different. If we take the same example from above: sites.carleton.edu is the domain; the subdirectory will be sites.carleton.edu/blogs.
Warning: Creating subdirectories can be tricky if the slug already exists. For example: if a WordPress site uses the url sites.carleton.edu and a blog page was created using the slug sites.carleton.edu/blogs, another WordPress site cannot be installed with the subdirectory name sites.carleton.edu/blogs because the url is already taken. If you try to create a subdirectory of the same name, you’ll get a conflict and errors.
Slug
A slug is just the ending portion of the url name. It looks like a Subdirectory, but they’re different. A slug is usually added when you create a new page in your sites while a subdirectory can be created when you install a new application. For example, a Wordpress site has a login page. Because that login page is separate from the main page, it needs a slug, which is /wp-login.php/. So the complete url will look like blogs.sites.carleton.edu/wp-login.php/.
Site
Site is shorthand for website; it is the space where you can add and manage the content. Some examples of sites are WordPress and Omeka.
Subsite
A subsite is a single site that lives within a larger, more powerful site. This term is most often used with a WordPress multisite. For example, a WordPress multisite is used for a class that helps students create their own portfolios. Each student has their single WordPress site to configure (this is the subsite), but all student portfolio sites are managed within a larger, more powerful WordPress site (the main multisite) created by the faculty member.
Application
The word site and Application are used interchangeably. In the context of cPanel, each site uses a specific application. For example, if you own a WordPress site, a WordPress application has been installed in your cPanel.
cPanel
cPanel is short for control panel, but it is widely known as a site collection database. Here, you can easily access and manage your domains, subdomains, applications, backups and files of your account.
Disk Quota
Each cPanel has a set amount of storage space when it is first set up. This is called disk quota, also referred to as disk space.
Disk Usage
Disk usage refers to a calculation of everything (from files, databases, etc.) that takes up space in the cPanel.
Backup
A backup is a copy of your application from a specific moment in time. Backups are saved for preservation in case something goes wrong with the current version and the backup needs to be restored in order for the site to work again. Backups can take up a lot of space, so it is recommended you only have 1 backup per application.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
FTP is a method that allows you to remotely move files to a web server from another location – usually your local/personal computer. This is primarily used when multiple people are working within the same cPanel.
Questions?
If you'd like to create a website using CarlSites, please fill out this website request form. Note: You need to sign in with your Carleton credentials to fill out this form.
Additionally, you may email at@carleton.edu for more information.
Acknowledgement
Created by Em Palencia, 2/22/22