May 1, 2023
This announcement contains updates related to 2023 Open Berkeley rate increases and platform roadmap.
Open Berkeley Rate Increase after July 1
- Open Berkeley maintenance/support rates will increase in the new fiscal year from $110/month to $120/month.
- This means that after July 1, 2023, the total cost of your Open Berkeley site (per month) will be $120 + the rate of your Pantheon hosting plan.
Platform Roadmap
- Since we are currently focusing on developing the next generation of the platform, we are in maintenance mode only (addressing security vulnerabilities, accessibility improvements, privacy considerations, and bug fixes) for the current generation of Open Berkeley.
- Our platform roadmap includes a plan for upgrading existing Open Berkeley sites and their content. We do not yet know what actions will be required from our customers during the process.
- At this point, we have no plans to charge extra for the upgrade for any existing sites. If this changes, we will communicate with our site owners/customers.
- Once the new version of our platform is available, we plan to use the same rate schedule as we do for the current version. If there are changes to hosting costs or our monthly maintenance rate, those changes will apply to both versions.
Accessibility and Open Berkeley
- Accessibility is built into the Open Berkeley platform, so our team handles all the technical aspects of ensuring the platform is accessible. The platform is regularly tested for accessibility, and any new features are vetted for accessibility before they are deployed. However:
- Content creators (Contributors, Editors, and Site Builders) on Open Berkeley sites are responsible for ensuring the accessibility of the content they feature on their sites, including text, images, audio and video, and widget content.
- We encourage site owners and builders to enroll in Siteimprove and visit our Using Siteimprove on an Open Berkeley site guide to identify and fix accessibility issues related to your site’s content.
Our Web Platform Services team (the Open Berkeley team) continues to support institutional requirements by providing a platform that complies with campus and UC-wide policies for Berkeley.edu websites (privacy, brand protection, security, and accessibility).
If you have any questions, please email web-platform@berkeley.edu, or join us at a training or office hours session.