In my case, that was the hard part. Coming face to face with what I have shot to the present point in time and what made sense as a depiction of what I am interested in portraying about myself. Yikes. What a mouth full..
Now comes Presentation of said collections: consistent touch up across all photos in each section, sharpening, widowing the selections down, order of appearance* sharpening, etc and we're off to find a template.
I found the Wix system to be very straightforward, easy to work with from a total ignorance of HTML coding standpoint, and ideal for my needs. Let me be clear here: I am in no way shape or form interested in coding, learning how to code, back end site management, web design, troubleshooting, breaking, testing, fixing, pointing ETC! I am a photographer and I want to focus my energy on photography, not learning how to build a website from scratch or pay someone to build it for me.
I wanted a simple way to present my portfolio in a professional manner and change thinks quick and easily when I saw fit. If you are interested in presenting a skill or service in a similar manner but don't want to dive down the web design rabbit hole I recommend giving Wix a look.
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| "Online Photos" Wix Template |
So, I have my images and a template, now to set up a click through and browsing sequence throughout the site. Usability is very important to me. If I check something out and have to roam and peck in order to get anywhere I usually just move on. Tough Gong.
For my first crack I separated the 'Cities' and 'Live!' material into two main sections. 'Parades and Festivals' and 'Rhode Island' were added as two smaller collections that I wanted to show off but do not fit in the two primary 'Cities' and 'Live!' categories.
PRESENTATION IS TOUGH!
Here we are with two main drop down categories and two side projects, plus an 'About' page:
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| (My screenshot skills are ON POINT tonight!) |
I knew upon initial launch that this set up wasn't perfect. My girlfriend told me it wasn't perfect. Close friends and trusted confidants told me it wasn't perfect. But, I felt confident enough in this set up and let it marinate for a couple months while I decided how the final product should look. This temporary break in the action was one of the best things I could have done at this stage as it gave me a chance to sit back and see how I reacted to the layout over time and hear what worked/didn't work after more people viewed the page.
What are your thoughts: www.dgdcphotography.com
What are your thoughts: www.dgdcphotography.com
Part 3: Tweaks & finalizing!
*order of appearance: Wix, this is for you: Seriously, improve the bulk upgrade feature of your system! Photos just plop into slideshows in whatever arbitrary order internet ones and zeros decide upon and users have to manually delete photo titles on each and every photo in every single album. It's maddening and should be fixed if Wix ever wants to be taken seriously by photographers. Even internet-coding dumb ones like me!