So Just How Hard Could It Be?
So just how hard could it be to build a web gallery? You see them all over the web and they vary in quality. I was pushed into building a website about a year and a half ago at the request of the owner of one of my venues, the Global Bean Coffee Company.
There was a bit of a learning curve. I had to find a web hosting service and learn how to set up the site and the domain. Then there was the web publishing software to find, set up, and learn to use. It’s not quite as easy as falling out of bed, but it becomes intuitive after some practice.
There are many web hosts available and it wasn’t hard to find a reputable one. There are scam artists I’m sure, but a bit of research should ferret out the good ones. The software needed to build the site was a different issue. I looked at several, but decided on RapidWeaver offered by Realmac Software. The iWeb software that comes with OS X just wasn’t sophisticated enough. You can also download a free version of RapidWeaver. It does everything the licensed version does, but you can only build three web pages which isn’t very useful unless all you need is a homepage and two gallery pages.
To begin with, RapidWeaver is built for the Apple MacIntosh, which is the platform that I use for the native graphics features in OS X. RapidWeaver is supported by a wide range of theme developers from all over the world. A theme establishes the look and feel of a website. Some are rather plain, but functional. Others are highly customizable, such as the one that I used for this website. I used the PageMix theme from MultiThemes, an Italian developer. They offer themes at quite a reasonable price for what you get. They even have a few simple themes available at no cost that help the neophyte learn how they work.
Themes are very helpful, but there are also plug-ins built for RapidWeaver that simplify building web pages. Your Head Software offers a number of plug-ins. My home page was built using the Stacks plug-in and the gallery pages were made with the Collage plug-in. The Method and Resume pages were both built with the Accordion plug-in. All of these plug-ins came from Your Head. For months, I used the RapidAlbum photo gallery plug-in, which is free from Mackie Software. I have never required support from the third party developers, but I needed a bit of help from RealMac once and they were better than any company I have ever dealt with.
There is FaceBook and Flickr, but why not try to be more independent? Even if I am the only one who visits the site, at least I know who created it and the domain name is mine to keep as long as I keep it registered.
There was a bit of a learning curve. I had to find a web hosting service and learn how to set up the site and the domain. Then there was the web publishing software to find, set up, and learn to use. It’s not quite as easy as falling out of bed, but it becomes intuitive after some practice.
There are many web hosts available and it wasn’t hard to find a reputable one. There are scam artists I’m sure, but a bit of research should ferret out the good ones. The software needed to build the site was a different issue. I looked at several, but decided on RapidWeaver offered by Realmac Software. The iWeb software that comes with OS X just wasn’t sophisticated enough. You can also download a free version of RapidWeaver. It does everything the licensed version does, but you can only build three web pages which isn’t very useful unless all you need is a homepage and two gallery pages.
To begin with, RapidWeaver is built for the Apple MacIntosh, which is the platform that I use for the native graphics features in OS X. RapidWeaver is supported by a wide range of theme developers from all over the world. A theme establishes the look and feel of a website. Some are rather plain, but functional. Others are highly customizable, such as the one that I used for this website. I used the PageMix theme from MultiThemes, an Italian developer. They offer themes at quite a reasonable price for what you get. They even have a few simple themes available at no cost that help the neophyte learn how they work.
Themes are very helpful, but there are also plug-ins built for RapidWeaver that simplify building web pages. Your Head Software offers a number of plug-ins. My home page was built using the Stacks plug-in and the gallery pages were made with the Collage plug-in. The Method and Resume pages were both built with the Accordion plug-in. All of these plug-ins came from Your Head. For months, I used the RapidAlbum photo gallery plug-in, which is free from Mackie Software. I have never required support from the third party developers, but I needed a bit of help from RealMac once and they were better than any company I have ever dealt with.
There is FaceBook and Flickr, but why not try to be more independent? Even if I am the only one who visits the site, at least I know who created it and the domain name is mine to keep as long as I keep it registered.