Creating a website for the first time, any tips???

Whitney Simms

@sigross I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I will do that.

I’m not really worried about things getting stolen. That’s just part of this game these days. I just didn’t know if that was something professional people did. I see some images watermarked and others not.

I tried 72 dpi, but it made my images tiny. Still trying to work my way around this whole thing. There’s a learning curve for real.

But the website it up! Not even close to finished or polished. But I got a chunk uploaded today. And something is better than nothing. So for today, I’ll take the steps in this direction as a win!

The website it:

www.whitneysimmsstudio.com

NessIllustration

@Whitney-Simms Looking good! Be careful though: the first thing I see when I click is a warning that the site isn't secure and asking me if I want to continue anyway. This means your SSL security certificate isn't installed yet. The SSL is what gives a website that green lock in the address bar that tells people it's safe. You should have gotten a free one with SquareSpace, so make sure you look into installing it to secure your website!

Whitney Simms

@NessIllustration thanks! It’s a work in progress. I did the verification thing a little bit ago. Hopefully that fixed it. If not I’ll look into it. I had to click on something before I went to the website as well. Then i saw something in my email to secure it. Fingers crossed!

sigross

@Whitney-Simms In Photoshop CC when you change resolution just increase the pixel count.

or you can do it all in FILE - SCRIPTS - Image Processor
if you have a few files to resize and copyright tag and want to do it as a batch command or with added actions

NessIllustration

@Whitney-Simms I checked just now and you have the green lock, you're all good!

Whitney Simms

@sigross magic! That’s awesome! I will totally use that trick! Hey, I bet i can upload a fold instead of regular images too. I’ll check that out. But changing the resolution for the whole folder sounds amazing! So much easier. Thanks for the tips!

carriecopadraws

@Whitney-Simms

Great tips from @sigross ! A standard desktop screen is 1920 pixels wide, so your web images never need to be bigger than that. A great web size is 1080-1350 pixels wide.

Nathan

When it comes to compression of images, two website I used when I need to change file size quickly are:

http://tinypng.com - good file compression for web-based images
https://bulkresizephotos.com - bulk resizing of images. Great if you are uploading a bunch of images and you want them all to be the same size.

Something a little more advanced, but essential if you have a bunch of images on your site is the use of a Content Delivery Network (CDN).

A content delivery network (CDN) refers to a geographically distributed group of servers which work together to provide fast delivery of Internet content. A CDN allows for the quick transfer of assets needed for loading Internet content including HTML pages, javascript files, stylesheets, images, and videos.

I believe Squarespace has their own CDN options.

For SEO benefits, and also if you are considering an online store in the future, I would install an SSL certificate.

SSL certificates are small data files that encrypt data packets as they are sent through the Internet. SSL is often used to transfer data logins and credit card information online.

It's what makes an HTTPS an HTTPS instead of HTTP

Again, I believe Squarespace offers this as an option.

Lastly, install Google Analytics. This provides data on people who have come to your website and the actions they have taken. This helps measure your personal marketing efforts online and can help you make a decision about what is the most effective use of your time.

Also, regarding watermarking - watermark with your website URL or social media tag (eg I could watermark with @nathan_creates - maybe even include the Instagram icon to make it extra clear). If people do post your stuff online without permission, at least the URL will lead people back to you

Hope that helps

Whitney Simms

@Nathan dude, that’s so much information. But good stuff I have no clue about. I do remember google analytics from my blog a hundred years ago. I’ll check on that again. I saw an SEO (or whatever the acronym is) as a tab on square space. I’ll check into that as well. I know I paid for the business package. I hope that means I got that option. I know I got the option of selling things on the website. I don’t remember seeing CDN, but that could be because I didn’t know what that was either.

This is all extremely helpful information! The goal is to look more professional, but I may end up being professional so I better make sure I have my ducks in a row.

Nathan

@Whitney-Simms No worries. Those are things I always recommend. They aren't essential to get a site up and running. However, later down the track when you get some traction, installing those things when you have site with heaps of images, and multiple pages can be a pain in the arse.

Better to get it in early, set and forget

ThisKateCreates

@Whitney-Simms Congrats on getting the site up! Ship happens. Lol
Lots of good knowledge here too!

Whitney Simms

The website is live! Most of my work is on it. I might have two more collections to add. I even got my friend to edit my “about me” page. Although, I think I still missed a few things in editing.
What do you think? Any glaring eye sores? Or things i could tweak?
www.whitneysimmsstudio.com
link text

NessIllustration

@Whitney-Simms It's SOOOO lovely!! Congrats on your hard work, it really paid off! My favorite part is how after scrolling through one of your lovely collections (which are full of high wuality content so it can take a while to scroll) the collections menu is right there at the bottom so you don't have to go all the way back up or hit the back button to see the other collections! I love this streamlined navigation experience!

Whitney Simms

@NessIllustration thanks for checking it out! I really had no idea what to do about the website. Squarespace had an awesome template. All i really knew was I wanted it crisp and clean. It was funny about the scrolling, I totally wanted to be a click slide show. I was working on it on the computer and scrolling was a pain. Then... on my phone I scrolled and was like “ah ha, that’s why it scrolls.” Is glad you saw how easy it was to continue looking at different collections. Still, not my template, but so stoked they had one that knew what i would want better than I did. Totally worth the money. Now, if I could only learn to write those darn descriptions. I wonder who actually reads those anyways.

NessIllustration

@Whitney-Simms My guess is not many people! I have to admit I skipped them myself because they seem a bit long and mostly emotion-based (I felt like drawing pretty pink blush butterflies, etc.) I myself prefer short and to the point description that give the important info (client if there was one, goal, year made...) and leaves out flowery descriptions. That's just me though, there may be a lot of people who actually like the descriptions? And they can always skip them if they're not into them. To me it just feels like a lot of words without much purpose, but I'm an overly "straight to the point" kind of person haha...

Whitney Simms

@NessIllustration honestly, that makes me feel so much better!!!. I’ve starting listening to a lot of these other “calming voice” surface design podcasts. They sound like yoga instructors. I wish I wasn’t so current with 3 point. I wish I had a back log of their stuff to listen to as I clean. The people are always like “each collection has a story to tell.” Blah. Blah. I think I will try the condensed discription of the literal pieces and color palette. Although. Half of them aren’t even done.

Judy Elizabeth Wilson

@Whitney-Simms Looks brilliant Whitney! Well done.

NessIllustration

@Whitney-Simms Hahaha your comment cracked me up!
I do agree with that: each collection has a story to tell. But ours is a visual medium and I've always thought that if we need to explain for people to get it, we must be doing something wrong! Your collections have a definite feeling to them, an atmosphere you create with the visuals. You're doing it right, so there's no need for words

demotlj

I think the website is very well done. It is clean and easy to access. I did go back and read the description of your butterfly collection to see why you had included your daughters so descriptions can be helpful

djly

@Whitney-Simms - a really nice website. I love that you've chosen a small collection of your best work to feature on the main page. You get an understanding of the work you do but in an easy snapshot kind of way.