This website is my first website. As someone who builds websites every day in a high-demand environment, I have a fondness for this one that supercedes my love for my work (which I LOVE a LOT.) In the past, it has been the canvas for my development skills. If you have been visiting for more than a few years, undoubtedly you remember it being riddled with bugs, impossible to use, or just having one of those "what was she thinking?" moments. As it turns out this problem is systemic for artists, but I'm not just an artist. I'm a professional web developer AND artist. I have the time, the know-how, and the motivation to produce a superlative website to showcase and sell my art work. And that's exactly what I'm going to do.
Aside from personal vanity, I do have motivation for the work I'm doing for this website. Lately, I've noticed that despite my fondenss for this website, I hate updating it. Yep, you heard me - it's a pain. When the last iteration of the design was built, it was the easiest site to update I had ever had. How times change. Nothing about the site has changed, just my expectations, though I admit, I have mishandled some upgrades, but the current version of my software, even fully upgraded, is no longer being supported or developed. I expect a cleaner interface. I expect more efficient layouts. I expect an easier time attracting visitors and interacting with them. With these expectations in mind, I'll be upgrading to the latest version of ExpressionEngine (my beloved platform,) installing on my new MediaTemple grid server (soon to be known as Petroglyph Hosting,) and installing in the same place as PetroglyphCreative.com so that all of my information is in one place.
The current design (assuming you're seeing this text before the new site is launched,) is extremely photoshop intensive. My next iteration will be very code intensive. This will cut down on load time and make good use of some of the internet's best styling and html. Additionally, I will be adding responsive properties as well - meaning it displays differently when being viewed on a mobile device, as though it was developed just for that. Well, It kind of will be. I want every user on every device to have the most fluid possible experience looking at my art and reading my blogs. And I want this piece to shine in my portfolio.
I'll be adding a lot of high-end features too. Login with facebook or twitter? Check. Rate paintings? Check. Share all content easily and interactively? Check. Buy seamlessly and easily? Oh gosh, you bet. All of it. Every last bit. And all on software that can handle upgrade, after upgrade, after upgrade.
Oh and one quick thing - see that graphic attached here? I made that. So even my photoshop capabilities have skyrocketed. This site will look slick. It'll act slick. It'll be, I'm hoping, the best artist website on the web. I sincerely mean that: I have every intent of making the best possible site for what I need out there, all things considered. It's a tall order, but I know that now is the time to accomplish this.
And of course, I'll post about it, as soon as it's live.
