RAM Talks Art: Workshop offers tips for showing artwork online

By Melissa Seipel, Graphic Arts & Publications Coordinator, Rockford Art Museum

If you know the difference between Dadaism and Nouveau Réalisme, but not Hypertext and Inline Images, then you may want to attend “Go Live!”—a free workshop Tuesday, Sept. 23, introducing art-savvy individuals to concepts of the Web.

Since the creative, visual tendencies are on the polar opposite side of the brain, which is dominant in the organized, logical language of programmers, you may need a little help in transforming your paint into pixels.

Second in the Tuesdays @ RAM workshop series, this workshop is geared toward artists who have aspirations of bringing their artwork to the World Wide Web, but have no idea where to begin. This workshop will not teach you how to code a Web site, but rather give you the tools to plan your site and introduce resources to help you create it.

It's cool, but does it work?

Considering the vast number of types of Web sites, ranging from commerce to purely information, many decisions have to be made about how to make the elements of the page relevant to your purpose. This is true whether or not you will be doing the actual coding or hiring someone else to do it. Beginning from how to arrange your page, we will explore the different types of navigation and page orientations. Usability is also something to consider, and tips for optimum function will be addressed as well.

Use the right tools for the job

Before you even can begin to build your site, you will need to have your images saved appropriately for the Web. We will discuss the different file types and how to prepare these images for your page. I will take a “Don't design in your Web editor!” approach and demonstrate a great way to design your pages and then bring those elements into your editor. We will explore some well-designed and not-so-well-designed sites and talk about why, and some of the current trends in Web design.

Does it need to be 'Flash'-y?

It seems like everyone has animation on their Web sites these days. We will discuss the aesthetics and pros and cons of an Adobe Flash or Flash-embedded site and what features require ActionScript or animation. We will also talk about what in the world CSS is, and look at a few Web sites that can give you some great tips and demonstrate the power of style sheets. I will also share some great resources for Flash elements that can help you learn by dissection or just borrow some elements that are available to you.

How do I get it there?

We will talk about some ftp applications that are available for free and how to get your pages from here to there, in addition to picking and registering your domain name. We will also talk about hosting options to get you started and bring your artwork into the World Wide Web. Finally, we will talk about secure Web sites, including VeriSign and SSL encryption, and some other Web terminology. So we hope, at this point, you are using both sides of your brain!

Tuesdays @ RAM: Go Live! takes place Tuesday, Sept. 23, 6 p.m., at Rockford Art Museum, 711 N. Main St., Rockford. Free admission (and free parking), no registration required. For more information, call (815) 968-2787.

Contact Rockford Art Museum Graphic Arts & Publications Coordinator Melissa Seipel at mseipel@rockfordartmuseum.org.

from the Sept. 17-23, 2008, issue

 

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