Vessera

Your college's programs and courses, published from one place

Vessera is a free WordPress plugin for community and technical colleges. Enter each course and program once, and your program maps, course pages and program lists stay in sync.

Get Vessera on WordPress.org
(Review Pending) Read the getting-started guide

Free in the WordPress plugin directory. Open source, and works with any WordPress theme. Formerly called Catalogist.

Information Technology

Associate of Applied Science, final year

Shared courses, then each pathway's own.

Semester 3
CourseTitleCr
ITC 210Database Design3
ITC 215Web Programming3
Choose 1 communication courseSP 100 or SP 2003
Term total9
Semester 4
CourseTitleCr
ITC 250Capstone Project3
Software pathway
ITC 260Mobile Development3
ITC 265Cloud Applications3
Networking pathway
NET 220Routing and Switching3
NET 230Network Security4
Term total9–10

Final year: Software 18 credits, Networking 19 credits

A live example of the Program Map block. Try the pathway buttons.

Built around how colleges plan programs

Credentials, semesters, electives, pathways and prerequisites are part of the plugin, not something you rebuild with page layouts and tables.

Program pages that explain themselves

  • Every credential a program offers, with its length, credits and description
  • Semester-by-semester maps, with tabs for each credential
  • Pathways students can switch between, with totals that follow
  • Optional outcomes, careers, certifications and enrollment notices
A program page showing credentials, pathway descriptions and a semester-by-semester map with credential tabs and a pathway switcher.
A program page, with nothing laid out by hand.

A map editor that knows the rules

  • Choice slots for electives, including lecture and lab pairs
  • General education templates you build once and apply anywhere
  • Warnings when a course comes before its prerequisite or the credits don't add up
The map editor with four semesters, choice slots, course groups, Web and Cloud and Cybersecurity pathway groups, and a scheduling note.
Building a map with shared courses and two pathways.

Programs students can actually find

  • Search and filter programs by credential, career area and delivery
  • A searchable course catalog, filterable by department and program
  • Filtered views keep their address, so you can link straight to "all online certificates"
The Program Finder with a credential and a delivery filter applied, showing six program cards.
The Program Finder, filtered to on-campus technical certificates.

Start from the spreadsheet you already have

  • Import CSV or Excel files, even with titles above the column headers
  • Match your columns once; Vessera remembers them
  • Preview every row first, and re-import later to update instead of duplicate

Download a sample catalog spreadsheet (a fictional college's courses, programs and maps)

The course import screen matching spreadsheet columns to course fields, with departments chosen by course prefix.
Matching spreadsheet columns during a course import.

From install to a published catalog

The getting-started guide walks through each step with screenshots.

  1. Install the plugin

    In WordPress, go to Plugins → Add New, search for Vessera, then install and activate it. It adds a Vessera menu to your dashboard.

  2. Import your courses

    Bring in your course spreadsheet, match its columns and file courses into departments by prefix.

  3. Build your programs

    Add each program's credentials, then lay out its semesters, electives and pathways in the map editor.

  4. Publish your Programs page

    Add the Program Finder to a page and choose it in Vessera's settings.

Read the getting-started guide

Free, and yours to keep

Vessera is open source under the GPL, like WordPress itself. Your programs and courses live in your own WordPress database, and nothing is sent anywhere else.

Questions? Ask in the Vessera support forum. Found a bug or have an idea? Open an issue on GitHub.

Requires
WordPress 6.6 or newer, PHP 7.4 or newer
Themes
Block and classic themes
Accessibility
Keyboard-operable tabs and filters, captioned tables, screen-reader announcements
License
GPL v2 or later