What is CreateFSU?
CreateFSU is a web hosting service for members of the Florida State University Community. With CreateFSU, you can host a WordPress site, build a digital exhibit with Omeka, create a standalone Wiki, or use many other apps and content management systems. Each account is provided a domain name (account.create.fsu.edu) and given 1GB of space to start.
Who can use CreateFSU?
CreateFSU is open to all faculty, staff, undergraduate, and graduate students. The service is designed to build web presences for research and creative activity. This could include book, thesis, or dissertation supplements, standalone digital project websites, and collaborative research blogs. Instructors can also create sites that are intended for classroom use, such as student blogs, collaborative exhibits, and other public-facing assignments.
This service is not intended to provide web hosting for departments, centers, or other official campus units. We are also unable to provide hosting for personal profiles for students. If you are interested in web hosting for your department or for a personal profile, please see ITS’s web services catalog.
For more possible use cases see “What can I create with my site” below. If you are interested in creating an account, but you aren’t sure if you qualify, please feel free to contact us.
How do I get an account?
In order to request an account, you must log in to CreateFSU using your FSU ID credentials, and fill out our request form. See our Getting Started page for an overview of the signup and setup process.
What applications are available on CreateFSU?
CreateFSU offers dozens of applications with one-click install, but the most commonly-used are:
- WordPress
- Drupal
- Scalar
- Omeka
- MediaWiki
- Grav
CreateFSU runs on a LAMP server (short for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and Python/PHP/Perl), so create FSU can accommodate most LAMP applications. If you are not sure if your desired application or software will work with CreateFSU, contact lib-create@fsu.edu.
What can I create with my site?
Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of things you can publish with CreateFSU. If you don’t see your website idea or concept on here, don’t worry! CreateFSU can likely accommodate that too. Just reach out to our team, and we can talk through how to implement your idea.
- Digital book supplement for all the research photos you couldn’t put in your monograph
- Class blog for students to learn how to write for the public
- Collaborative exhibit
- Website for research project that you hope to attain grant funding for
- Lab site for publishing research updates and in-progress works
- Hypertextual book that allows for reader interaction
- Static page to recruit users for a research study
What else (technically) can I do with my site?
Besides installing content management systems to publish content, you can also create static sites using flat HTML, publish using LAMP software (even if it isn’t in CreateFSU’s app list), create Ruby applications, and much more. If you have an idea and aren’t sure if it fits within CreateFSU’s capacities, email lib-create@fsu.edu
How long will I have my site?
CreateFSU is currently in a pilot phase, but we have a contract through the Spring of 2026. The goal of the pilot is to show need for a web hosting service and advocate for its adoption beyond 2026.
Otherwise, users have access to the service while they are affiliated with the university. For students who graduate and faculty who move to other institutions, we provide assistance with transferring your site to self-hosting and web archiving to ensure continued access.
Can I transfer my site to another platform when I leave FSU?
Yes! Our vendor Reclaim Hosting can transfer your site to be an individual account after you graduate or leave the University. If you wish to use another service, we can also consult with you on transferring your site, but you may need to do a little more of the legwork yourself.
Do you offer web archiving services?
We are currently exploring web archiving for certain CreateFSU websites. If you wish, you may self-deposit data (such as PDFs of webpages, exported site data, or research materials hosted on the site) into DigiNole. We are also experimenting with archiving whole sites (especially sites that supplement theses or dissertations). If you are interested in archiving your CreateFSU site, please contact lib-create@fsu.edu.
Who owns the intellectual property for my site?
In most cases, you do. We break down some of that here.
For Faculty – According to the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Florida State University Board of Trustees and the United Faculty of Florida General Faculty Bargaining Unit, the University shall not assert rights over university-supported efforts when “the intended purpose [of the work] is to disseminate the results of academic research, scholarly study, or creative efforts.” See Section 18 of the CBA for more details on works and inventions. There may be edge cases where the University can assert rights over the content of your CreateFSU website. If you are concerned about this, our CreateFSU team would be happy to talk with you.
For Students – Per FSU’s Student Intellectual Property Policy, as long as you are creating content on CreateFSU in your capacity as a student, it is highly likely that you own the copyright to your content. The main exception to this is if you are creating content as part of your duties and responsibilities as an FSU employee (e.g., a research or teaching assistant), in which case the copyright is owned by the University. Read the policy for more details.
