Web publishing


FAS Academic Technology currently supports two main platforms for publishing content to the web: Omeka and Scalar. Both of these platforms were built with academic writing in mind, and both were developed at universities (Omeka at George Mason, and Scalar at USC)

These two different platforms have a lot in common, so it can be difficult to determine which one is right for your project. We've put together this page to help you navigate those differences and find out what's best for you.

For a more in-depth consultation, please reach out to atg@fas.harvard.edu.

 OmekaScalar
Best for:
  • Work resembling an archive or museum collection
  • Interactive maps with the Neatline plugin
  • Work resembling a book or article
  • Multimedia-rich nonlinear narratives
Can site contributors be restricted from editing each others' content on the same site?
Yes
No
Integrated with Harvard Key?
Yes
Yes
Able to import IIIF images?
Yes (with IIIF Items plugin)
No (in development)
Customizability
Various themes available, with the ability to develop custom themes with PHP
Ability to add custom CSS and Javascript, but no custom themes
Design
Somewhat dated
Somewhat modern
Extensibility
Can add functionality with plugins
No plugin infrastructure