As you evaluate which website builder to use, consider:

Advertising

• Most free services require advertisements of some kind on your web pages in exchange for the free service. Pick a service that is less obtrusive in their advertising. The domain name of your site will also have the name of whichever service you pick in most cases.

Privacy

• Some services may allow you to limit who can view your website, or give you the ability to password protect individual pages.

Apps

• Some services may have an app while others might not. If you plan to do any editing on a mobile device, having an app could make it much easier.

Ease of Use

• Before you pick your website builder, consider how easy it is to learn and use. How long will it take you to learn the tool before you can easily build your website?

Multimedia

• Can you embed videos or other files or multimedia? If you want to be able to do certain things, make sure the service you pick allows it.

Themes

• Different services have different themes available. Pick one you like and customize it to get a unique look for your portfolio.

As you build your portfolio, there are several things you should keep in mind:

Privacy

• Safeguard both your privacy and anyone else's that might be included in your artifacts.
• Strip out anything you don't want found on the web: addresses, emails, phone numbers, etc.
• Share your ePortfolio web address only with your instructors and others you trust.
• Do not include a picture of yourself if you are not comfortable doing so. You can include a picture that you have taken that represents you and/or your interests. For example, if you like to kayak, you could include a picture of a kayak or a body of water.
• Do not provide your contact information if you are not comfortable doing so.
• Do not use your full name in your ePortfolio. You don't have to use any part of your name in the title or the web address. 

Make it easy to navigate

• Once you start, let someone else try it out. If they have trouble navigating your site then others will too.

How does it look on different devices?

• Test on a few different computers/phones/tablets to be sure the site is usable. You can also use the developer tools in your browser.

Be creative

• Look at the examples in this guide and search for more. All of the free tools mentioned in this guide let you customize templates, so make it your own.

Be professional

• Creating a portfolio is becoming an important skill and increasingly valued by people considering you for internships, jobs and educational opportunities. Use this as an opportunity to create something you would be proud to show off.

Ethics

• Students are required to maintain the same academic ethics in their ePortfolios as they are in their courses. Plagiarism is not acceptable. Plagiarism is when you represent work that you have not created as your own. Use appropriate citations for content that belongs to others.

• The content (pictures, documents, videos, assignments, etc.) that you include in your ePortfolio must be content you have produced. In the case of photos, if you use any that aren't your own, be sure that they aren't copyrighted images. Some great tools for finding free images are CC Search, Pixabay, and Unsplash.

• Do not use copyrighted content (images, etc.) unless you have permission from the copyright holder, it is in the public domain, it has a create commons license, and/or it falls under the "fair educational use" exemption. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are not violating copyrights. For questions on copyright, citations, etc., contact a librarian in the LRC.

Refer back to the rubrics (see Home page)

• This will let you know what you need in your reflections, which artifacts to include, etc.