How did you create your web site?

[Scott Knowles]

John, what PC do you have? The software you need depends on the PC and your skills to learn it and/or Web (html) code. Before you actually begin, I'll reiterate the suggestion to design it first, it will save a lot of time redoing your Web sites and pages to accommodate changes and new stuff. That's why the suggestion to look at a lot of sites to see how they organized, how they present the material and information, the presentation, and so on.

I would also suggestt you view the source code to see what's behind them. A lot of Web sites look really cool, until you see they use flash or other technology or a lot of script and/or programs, and replicating a similar design is a lot of work. Also, almost all use some sort of javascript, and if you're not at least literate at either writing or adapting it to your site, it's hard to make things work.

Last of all, there are lots of Web page design software, the key is how you work and think, because you have to learn the software along with developing your Web pages. Many are wysiwyg, meaning you design using the tools and it writes the code, which is why some don't recommend Frontpage, so you have to see how you work with software. And I'll get back to the push to be W3C compliant, the software should have a code/syntax checker to varying standards.

As for specifics, as I've said, I use BBEdit and GoLive for mine at www.wsrphoto.com which is still in the initial development stages.

Good luck.

[Lon Overacker]

John,

As has been said, you'll get a wide variety of answers - each of them correct in their own way. I've had a web presence for over 10 years, but that doesn't mean it's provided any real benefit to me. I'll be the first to admit, that unless you are relentless in pursuing your web presence, search engine rankings, etc.... selling art on the web is tough business. While I put hundreds and hundreds of hours of time in researching, creating, building and editing my website (3rd generation), without the marketing and business savy, I've only had a trickle of sales opportunities and mostly a series of ooh's and ahh's from surfer's.
Having said that, for me, just like photography, it's a labor of love. The fact that I built and created my website gives me plenty of satisfaction. Anything resulting from the website in terms of exposure and sales is icing on the cake. If I made a living from it, I would most certainly pay someone to ensure I would get the maximum exposure on the web.

None of this is meant to discourage you. I would encourage anyone with an eye for photographic art to have a web presence. In my opinion, you have 3 choices for getting yourself a website:
1. Design, build and maintain your own website. this of course requires the most time and know-how on your part. But you have the most control. I chose this route and have a hosting service for $99/yr. Storage amount should be considered, but even at the 500mb limit that I have.... you can have 1000 images at 50k for web viewing...
This option obviously requires knowledge, or a learning curve with html (ok, add asp, php, jsp, xml, java, abchtmtl... :-).....
2. Canned photo templates. Lot's of software - including PS, where you can easily create a website and upload to a hosting service. Easy entry to getting a website with minimal coding experience. And today, some very nice presentations with lots of fancy graphics and navigational gimics.
3. Professional design and hosting. Obviously most expensive, but depending on your goals and aspirations is certainly a viable option. What you get here is not only the professionally designed site, e-commerce and support, you get the marketing know-how to get your images seen and visible in searches and search engines. But you get what you pay for - if you want to spend the money.

In my opinion and experience, the most successful photographers and webistes are those who already had a business of photography and/or client base. In other words, for someone to pay $$$ for a 30x40 inch archival print from someone, they would have to have had some connection or previous viewing of the work in order to purchase it online. Think about it, would you buy a painting from an artist you didn't know and/or had never seen the work in person? Stock and royalty-free are different discussions.. there are also plenty of sites on the web where you can market your work in stock, rights-limited or royalty-free arrangements. (These too, offer great ways to get your work exposed - just be very savy in understanding these arrangements.)

So, as other's have said, be clear on your goals and objectives. Decide what you want to accomplish and make your decision on that. Even a mediocre site like mine will bring you traffic and many inquiries. Keep it simple, clean and professional. I started off with music and slide shows.... but ulimately, those who will be browsing and finding your site, are mostly interested in great photography... fancy navigation and gimmics just get in the way and will turn people away. Unless of course, you have eye-dropping, mouth-opening images... then people might stick around...

Good luck and go for it.
Regards,
Lon

[Sanders McNew]

It doesn't have to be that hard. Go check out www.jalbum.net -- it is a ridiculously easy to use web photo site generator, with dozens of "skins" by which you can customize the look and structure of the site. I know nothing about HTML or web site construction, but was able to build my own in an evening. Check out these directories at my site, which I built with jalbum:

www.mcnew.net/portraits
www.mcnew.net/new
www.mcnew.net/6x6

And not only is it easy to use -- it's free as well.

Honestly, before spending money to hire somebody to do it for you, or sinking money into software and HTML tutorials, give jalbum a try.

Sanders McNew
www.mcnew.net

[Michael Hewson]

If all want is a "display" site and
1) you know how to dump JPGs from photoshop; and
2) you are familiar with MS word; and
3) time is on your side,
sitting down with a Macromedia Dreamweaver text book and a glass of wine and a modicum of cost (for Dreamweaver) will set you right.
If you want something more (ie print order) - all/some of the the above refers.

Michael Hewson

[JW Dewdney]

In my opinion - absolutely the best way to get started learning how to build a website is to rip off someone else's (just try to make sure it's a simple one!). Just start substituting their content for yours on your local drive (of course - you have do download their source first - and make sure you have the folder structure right). Honestly - I think it's a great way to learn. Start subbing out their images and text for yours - you start to get a feel for what sort of changes you can make easily and what works. You can also maybe learn a few little tricks (using spacers in graphics, etc...). The best part of this is that you start with a fully functional web page (that's not your own, of course!). By the time you're finished, however - the content and structure will be 100% (or at least 85% hopefully) your own. You'll learn WAY more, more rapidly, than any other web authoring program can teach you.

Just an opinion.

[darr]

In my opinion - absolutely the best way to get started learning how to build a website is to rip off someone else's ...

Sounds like your real creative.

--

I would recommend to look at a lot of sites in action (not necessarily all photo) and then pick a few you like. Maybe it's the color scheme, fonts, structure, accessibility, etc. you like. Save the links to the sites and then get a feel for what you are going for.

Then look at some prefabbed programs you can find on sites like HotScripts by using their search function and input terms like: photo, graphics, gallery, etc.

This process can get you started if you work at it. You will need to upload trial programs and play with them some to see if they will work for you. As a designer I have worked this way for years.

[JW Dewdney]

Why not? It's how 99.9% of people learn photography... I think you're taking my words out of context (literally!) without really thinking about what I'm suggesting. it doesn't mean that your website's going to, in any way, resemble the one that you started out with.

[Darin Boville]

If you are on a Mac try iWeb or RapidWeaver. easy, easy, easy.

--Darin

[julian]

he used a designer:

http://tylerboley.com/FineArtPhotography/index.html

Very clean and easy to navigate. Interested buyers just need to email for prices and such...

Carolyn Frayn, who did Tyler's site, is a great designer. If I can every afford someone to redo my site, she'll be who I'll call. She is also a great photographer and printer in her own right. She won inkjetmalls 'print' competion a while back

[Scott Knowles]

Sounds like your real creative.

Not at all, that's a good way to learn. Why reinvent the wheel? When you find Web site you like for the design and presentation, look at the source code. You can see the html code used to define the display, any javascript, flash and other stuff used, along with the colors and such. You can judge how hard it will be to make yours.

Many learned to design Web pages under html 1.0 long before Web design software and some still write pages in code. If you're comfortable with that method, it's sometimes easier to design pages or keep current ones updated. If you want to use javascripts, there's Web sites with sample scripts, but operating Web sites also provide scripts that you can see how they work and you can judge how hard it would be to use in your Web site. Creativity isn't just creating something from scratch, it's also about making something work.