[General Discussion] - Setting up a quick portfolio site
polycounter lvl 18
It seems that every week there are dozens of new portfolio sites popping up - sometimes they look good, and sometimes they look bad. Storage space is often hard to find, some free hosts make it almost impossible to directly link to your images, and some peple are still manually editing and upload HTML.
Why not use the easy route? Blog it.
I'm going to show you how to quickly create a portfolio site that will look good, be simple to update, and display your art easily.
I'm writing this as an article for my own site, and it'll be shaped by any feedback here.
Why not use the easy route? Blog it.
I'm going to show you how to quickly create a portfolio site that will look good, be simple to update, and display your art easily.
I'm writing this as an article for my own site, and it'll be shaped by any feedback here.
Replies
edit: I have a pretty advanced knowledge of html though, my most advanced technique is making frames.. yeah!
Firstly, we need a blog. There are dozens to choose from, but you'll want one that lets you integrate other sites into it using an API. I'll use Wordpress for this example, but you could equally use LiveJournal, Blogger, Moveable Type, Typepad or whatever.
So I went to http://www.wordpress.com and signed up for a blog. This took about 30 seconds, and they emailed my password to me, and http://rickstirling.wordpress.com/ was up and running. Using Wordpress is a breeze - just click 'Add new post' and type away.
So, in 2 minutes I had a site - but it looks like every other Wordpress site out there. My rsart site is Wordpress site, but I used my own hosting and installed their blogging software myself. I really went to work on rsart, editing all the stylesheets and layout to get something that worked for me, and you can do this on a wordpress hosted account just as easily. But since this article is all about speed, for now we are simply going to pick a template design.
If you go to the Presentation tab on the Wordpress dashboard you can edit the CSS, or you can simply pick from one of the 40 or so themes that are just sitting there (with nice big preview images). I went for Benevolence - it was the first one on the list that I liked. Of course, I could edit that theme as much as I wanted to.
Once you account is setup you can upload you images. Flickr has a web based uploader, but you can also upload by email or by using a variety of applications. I have a plugin for iPhoto that lets me upload directly to Flickr. Since I have a lot of images online, I'll not upload a new one and instead I'll use an existing image for my blog.
We need to configure Flickr to know where our blog is - fortunately this is easy. By going to http://www.flickr.com/blogs.gne you can add a blog to your Flickr profile. Choose the blog type (in this case it's Wordpress), Then you fill in the API address - flickr tells you what it is, in my case it will be http://rickstirling.wordpress.com/xmlrpc.php and then I give my blog login details. Press next and Flickr will try to verify this - 15 seconds later I'm good to go.
Now the final stage - getting an image onto your blog. This is the easiest part - simply upload your images to Flickr, navigate to the image that you want, and click the 'Blog This' button. This brings up a text editor, where you can give the image a different title and write a blog post about it. Press Post, and a few secodns later it's done. Flickr has posted a blog post onto your site with the image.
http://rickstirling.wordpress.com/
Wordpress has excellent image uploading built in too (though the offline editors do a better job).
If you download Ecto (or even Windows Live Writer), you can edit the blog offline and insert images. These will be uploaded to the Wordpress side and included into your post.
This was just a quick simple tutorial, once you get under the hood of Wordpress you'll see how powerful it is. My entire site www.rsart.co.uk is built in it. All the pages? I just created a new Page in WP, and set it's parent. SO I have a Page called About, which is all about me. I have a Page called links, and I use the WP link system to store, categorise and display all my links.
You are basically getting a fully functioning web portal - no more uploading HTML
What if i want to use this as an animation blog?
what's the best route to go there? you tube?
Thanks Rick for doing this. It's really cool.
at the end of the day it's just a site, so you can add anything you want. I choose Wordpress and Flickr simply because they integrate so well and take so much pain out of it.
I'd be interested to see someone try the whole shebang from start to end. I'm betting that it takes under 10 minutes to have a portfolio site up and running.
Go on, give it a go.
If someone tries that, we can work on customisation.
The latest Wordpress has got video embedding built in. You just go to Embed video and use [youtube=http: or [googlevideo=http: and add the link. Then its done.
This is for wordpress.com sites, not a custom WP install. This is because the WP.com site is upgraded all the time. I'd expect this feature to be in the next standalone install, but int he meantime you can use WP plugins to easily embed the video.
That's pretty sweet!
Seriously though, thanks man. This is great, just what I need and at the right time.
But I created my own database and update system for my own website so why bother
Something to bear in mind is that Wordpress charges you if you want a pesonal custom CSS theme tho.
My point of view on the whole dynamic conent would be as follows :
Having blogfast updates is really nice and handy since it prevents you from manually editing content from your webpages. New art is added gradually which is great. However I think it is crucial to delete old works now and then, as bad old crap can pile up and play against you. Also, comments are fine for holidays blogs, but over-verbose portfolio don't look professional in my opinion.
Last but not least : Painfully handwritten folio sites have their benefits. If kept very simple it is still a great way to showcase works : Actually, a page filled with great images as a nicely put together skills overview does a great job.
Less clicks still wins!
http://www.rsart.co.uk/
And a permalink: http://www.rsart.co.uk/2006/08/26/setting-up-a-quick-portfolio-site/
Pior - Don't like comments? Turn them off. If you mean the text comments you tag onto each image, well, turn that off. At the Flickr end you can customise the post it sends to your blog.
Apologies if I sounded like an ass, haha
http://www.joomla.org/
It's pretty easy to setup and tons of themes already out there and it has some nice image options..
I'm using that currently on my site.
Wordpress was available through the company that does my hosting, so I just went with that. Very simple to get going. It was so darn easy, I think that I might just add a few extra pages, and move my entire portfolio over. It is just so ridiculously easy to maintain, that I might actually keep my portfolio up to date just for the sheer hell of it.
Nah, that's a stretch, but I could!
Sorry for the off-topic post. I've been thinking of doing a baby blog as well, though.
I've never had a problem with them.
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- Jesse
I want a site with a bar of thumbnails along the bottom that you can cycle through and the full size image above that, I've looked into gallery and 4images but they all seem to share the same annoying trait of too many clicks.
My public site is a blog, not a portfolio.
Ok, I'm trying to be a jerk now:
rename the thread to setting up a quick blog
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I think the name's fine. It could also be renamed setting up a quick blog which, if only used for posting images, can operate perfectly as a portfolio, though, if we want to be specific.
(Edit: Since you've edited your post would you like me to remove the quote?)
I guess the word blog automatically puts a bad taste in my mouth. I gave it a shot expecting to hate the end result but It bothers me less than the frames that the Photoshop Automator uses.
wordpress
http://artbyjustin.com/blog/
VS
photoshop automator
http://www.artbyjustin.com/
Yes, I've read it and you are talking about setting up a blog with a photo gallery, so I fail to see the "quick portfolio". I'm surprised I'm the first one to mention anything because portfolio sites like this usually get the "keep it simple, open on your best piece" comments here.
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I'm also going to agree with you. I definitely wouldn't treat anyone's site seriously who had this type of treatment. It's ok for the trendy people who want something quick and simple, but as far as the best way to present something, I find it poor. I'd prefer to look at a directory listing of jpegs.
To expound: Blog type websites are good for incremental updates. However 99.9% of portfolio sites are not checked incrementally. Someone visits one time, and wants to browse all content. Having long lists of posted images is not a good way to do this. There is a reason almost every single site offering a large amount of images uses thumbnails. *hint* it's not because they were waiting for Web 2.0 to be invented.
I don't understand how this is any easier than making a simple html page with small thumbnails linked to larger images. That would not only be easier to navigate, it'd have less garbage to visually sift through.
I don't understand how this is any easier than making a simple html page with small thumbnails linked to larger images.
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Well, it does include hosting.
A site that is hosted for free (with free iamge hosting on e the site, or via flickr), doesn't have an address with /~ in it, and is simple to update.
Pior database driven site is much better for a portfolio, or people could use Gallery (like I did http://www.rsart.co.uk/wp-gallery2.php?g2_itemId=164) and make the main page on their site (for my site I choose NOT to have a game art gallery up front, it's not a gallery).
Not everyone has access to php however, certianly with most free hosts, and those that do rarely have the knowledge to use it well or the time to learn.
so i thought id try this just to get sommit reasonable to show.
ive hit a problem though i have all my images in a photobucket account but i cant seem to access them in wordpress.
ive got an account set up, and when i go to edit/post anything instead of getting the normal posting box thing with buttons to create the cody crap (ie click on button, paste image address, write rest of post, post) aint there and my attempts at getting images in using type in the posting box bring up the image icon but no image loads.... aaaaagh.
apparently wordpress has a beginner and advance mode to change the post writing, but when i go to where the help guide tells me it aint there......
aaaargh pooh.
if someone could show me the correct html tag to get an image uploaded in wordpress, or tell me whats going on id much thankfull
bleh its easy when you know how to fecking do it
what do you think.
gonna make a few changes here and there
my brand new webspace for free cheers rick
actually ill probably make alot of changes, the order of the pages, the front page image, the colours once i get the upgrade, etc etc
But perhaps this post would be better on P&P?
Here's my go at, not much of a professional set up, but just something to get my stuff out there: erikwithak.wordpress.com
I decided to redesign my webpage and since my webcoding god/friend will do all the nasty coding for me i will have to come up with a design so i´ve been checking out piors page alot since i like what he has. I wanted to get away from that dark "haxxor"-underground thing i´ve been having for awhile now aswell.
Here it is as it would look when finished. Banner is a WIP and the characters will be presented the same way as pior does it, (can´t render it out right now since im on the family comp).
http://www.pigged.net/stuff/designtest-hemsidafinaltest3.jpg
Is it to simplistic? Does it look like shit to you? Am i an idiot? Some guy said i should go black-tribal-border on it instead of the plain ones i use now but... hmm. I like it right now even though it might be plain.
http://www.elpasorugs.com/paintedshades/silhouette_shades/ghvaquero.jpg
-edit haha ok I see you removed them now :P
Same comment than in my email reply:
http://www.elpasorugs.com/paintedshades/silhouette_shades/ghvaquero.jpg
[/ QUOTE ]Dang you´re fast. I also edited my post. Just so you know. Im putting the silhouettes in right now to better show what i mean.
EDIT: You saw the "behind the scenes"-picture. This was the public one without those renders. Im not that much of an idiot, really.
Bah no problem! now get that website up and running!
[/ QUOTE ]Bah! :P
Why get a website running when you can sit and tweak for all eternity. Here´s another one. Don´t know about ze colorz though but.. i kinda like the menu. Will see if i can put some nice graphics into it.
http://www.pigged.net/stuff/design2.jpg
IMHO you should either make that diagonal-pattern background into a solid colour, or a larger-scale pattern... at the moment it just looks like pixelly noise and is tearing my eyes away from the main content.
http://www.carbonmade.com/
looks pretty decent too.
http://snowfly.wordpress.com/
This http://snowfly.wordpress.com/portfolio/ should be the intro page tho!
edit: woo! It's fixed