A Nip and a Tuck
Well, it didn’t take long for my newly redesigned website and blog (which I unveiled in March) to get to the point where one more thin mint would have caused the whole thing to explode.
Fourth Design for Marilyn Fenn Studio (First Design using WordPress)
I started with a design with which I was quite content, but then added one more widget after another until my initial neat and clean and well-thought out design was starting to look pretty junky. WordPress and the bazillions of developers working madly away like little hamsters creating new gadgets and what-nots to “enhance” one’s blog — not to mention all the Web 2.0 doo-dads to connect with friends and communicate across apps — make it oh-so-easy to get out of control. I should know better.
Since I created my first art website design about 10 years ago, my site has gone through alternating periods of expansion and contraction. This contraction happened sooner than expected, though. I guess I succumbed to the “ooh-shiny” syndrome. It’s great that WordPress gives you the option of having a website AND a blog, all in one, but there’s a a trade-off to be made. Most artist websites benefit from a clean and simple interface that does not compete with showing your work to best advantage. Most blogs, on the other hand, encourage multiple opportunities for making connections with others online. Websites, too, need to make a good first impression.
So, I have done a little remodel and some streamlining to bring the whole thing back to a slightly cleaner and simpler interface, much like my previous website design. I have moved the Blog from the front page, replacing it with a simple random image of my work. I removed all sidebar widgets but one, adding them progressively as you get deeper into the website. The Blog pages contain all sidebar widgets. I also consolidated some pages, and did a little editing.
This all started when I was going to add two new galleries of work to my site, then decided to clean up my art database that feeds those pages, and then it just snowballed from there.
I hope the new navigational structure works for my readers. Please let me know what you think — better, worse, or just a change to get used to?
I was thinking of doing the SAME thing to my site, which btw, isn’t dripping daily so I was also considering a blog name change. The Daily Drip is a clever title, but a bit optimistic of my free time. I already customized the sidebar for the blog page to include all the fun widgets, but all the other pages have a very minimal sidebar. I am also considering moving the blog from the front page – so long as I can find a way to rotate content (like news and announcements) on the front. If you use feedburner, can’t you change the location of your blog without your readers loosing their rss feed subscriptions?
I still feel like a combo website/blog is the wave of the future for websites, but that I probably should pay more attention to the information I give to visitors on my home page. Not every blog post is primed to give the best possible impression of me or my work…
Haley, thanks. You bring up some good points. See, I’m going to start worrying about this, and before you know it, I’ll have junked up my front page again. He-he.
Perhaps a news feed on the sidebar, or a limited Upcoming Events bit…guess I’ll look into the feedburner thing, too. Thanks for the tips!
Hi, Marilyn!
I love your website! I honestly did not realize that WordPress offered Pages! And Free! I see that you have the .com, etc. Premium, but the free seems to offer a lot! Can I ask you a question, I have a blog at blogger (redeemedbydsign.blogspot.com), do you know if they offer pages. I really have a lot on my page that I wish I could separate into pages and categories…, but I haven't seen that option there! This really looks promising! What do you think? Fellow Austinite here and EtsyAustinite! Your Art is great!
Patricia Davis-Striegler,
Redeemed By D.S.ign
Patricia,
Thanks for all your compliments! I moved from Blogger to WordPress because Blogger did not (and I believe still does not) offer pages. The free version of WordPress gives you options for pages and a blog, and about 50 template designs to choose from. You can add a few sidebar widgets but no plugins to the free version (and the plugins on the hosted versions give you a great way to add image galleries, among a bazillion other things). I keep a free WP blog just so I can see what it can and cannot do; you can take a peek if you'd like: it's here: http://artistasdesigner.wordpress.com/ — I've added many of the sidebar widgets it offers at this point, so you can see some of what's available.
You could start with a free WordPress account and Flickr to post your photos, and move up to a hosted account some time on the future, should you ever wish to.
Hope that helps!
Thanks, that sounds like a pretty good option!
Patricia