Class:Digital Portfolio 2016/Week 2
Last Week
- Introductions
- Discuss Class
- Discuss Wiki
- History of the Internet
- How the internet works for us
This Week
- Review Last Week
- Hosting Your Sites
- Introduction To Digital Portfolio Techniques
- Photography Site Building (CMS) Solutions
- The "size" of the internet
Open Questions
Notes
Review Your Inspirational Website Submissions
Hosting Your Sites
Some of you will end up using a hosted web site solution and not need to setup a dedicated web host, others will end up needing to upload your website to a dedicated host.
- Do you need a dedicated host?
- Will you be building your website yourself (HTML/CSS) and uploading it? - Yes
- Will you be using indexhibit or Wordpress to build your website? - Yes
- Will be using a hosted solution like PhotoShelter, Squarespace or Cargo to build your website? - No
- Even if it is not your main website, will you need to export galleries and post them online for friends/clients to see? - Possibly
It's important to go with a Hosting Provider that you trust, one that you can contact when you need some help.
I have created a Hosting Providers reference page for you here.
Introduction To Digital Portfolio Techniques
This week in class I walked you through a series of slide presentations highlighting the foundation techniques for this semester.
Highlights Include
- Evolution of site design and technologies
- The Magic Poster theory
- Photographers should NOT have to learn code
We also talked a little bit about Responsive Web Design
- The article that started it all: Responsive Web Design at A List Apart
- 30 Responsive Portfolios For Your Inspiration
- If you are interested, the best place to start is A Book Apart: Responsive Web Design
- Fantastic repository of responsive sites: mediaqueri.es
Photography Site Building (CMS) Solutions
There was a time where a Photographer would build (or hire somebody to build) their website from scratch. Adding and removing content from these websites would require somebody to edit the HTML and upload the changes to a web server. Successful websites are no longer built like this... Content Management Systems (CMS) have redefined how the internet works. These tools are either hosted, or need to be installed on your webserver to run.
This week I introduced the class to the concept of Content Managed Solutions. We will be spending a lot of time looking at these options.
I have created a Site Building (CMS) Solutions reference page for you here.
The "size" of the web
Image Sizes Today
- Small - 800px wide
- Medium - 1200px - 1600px wide
- Large - 1800px wide and up
Optimizing Images for The Web
We covered many aspects/techniques related to optimizing your images for the web.
- Image Format Reference
- I also showed the excellent tool Imageoptim for further compressing your images
Video Notes
Monday Session
- Domains and Transferring Email Review
- Review & Deconstruct Sample Websites Pt 1
- History of Web Making and Intro to CMS Options
Tuesday Session
Assignment
For class on June 6th:
- Review the website platforms & Content Management options page, explore and shop for templates that you like.
- Sketch or write out how you will organize the sections of your website.
- Be prepared to discuss your plans for the above in class. Section names, hierarchy and content/copy for your info pages.
Also:
- Compress 10 of your photos using the techniques shown in class (above), bring them to class.
