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Graphic DesignOverview
Whether you are simply an art connoisseur that plans on displaying your favorite masterpieces or, on the other hand, you are an artist and want to create a site to showcase and even sell your own work, creating an art gallery online is a fairly simple process. Here are a few things you should consider as you begin thinking about building your website.
Step 1
Decide on the works you intend to display on your site. If you plan on displaying the works of other artists, determine whether they are in the public domain. In other words, do you have the right to put them on your site? Don't assume something is in the public domain just because it's old; always double-check before loading the image up on your site. This is especially true if you intend to sell reproductions of another artist's work.
Step 2
Look at comparable art gallery sites and make a list of page elements you might possibly want to include on your site. This is also a good time to consider what type of page design you want to have from an aesthetic point of view.
Step 3
Determine who will be constructing the site. If you are familiar with Dreamweaver, or a similar program, you should consider building your online art gallery yourself. If, however, you plan on hiring a web designer, make sure to ask to see a portfolio of her work and check around for the best price. A third option is to enlist a friend who knows HTML to help you with building your site.
Step 4
Decide if you want someone to be able to right-click and save a copy of your work. If you don't want your art savable by visitors, you will need to disable their ability to do this on your website by inserting a bit of HTML code to prevent this (see Resources).
Step 5
If you intend to sell art on your site, you will need to set up a method to take orders and accept payments as well as to ensure customers that their credit-card information will be secure. In terms of payment options, you can either set up a traditional business merchant account with your bank, or open an account with PayPal. In many ways, PayPal is the easiest route, since it handles all the payment processing and is widely recognized on the Internet.
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