3 Far Eastern Art History Websites

Client: Allegheny College Art History Department
Deadlines: September 2004, October 2004, and December 2004

Project Description:

The client commissioned me to be the web developer for the Far Eastern Art History Course she was teaching. The art history department at Allegheny College is becoming more multimedia based but most professors make use of the extensive slide library of art works.

These slides must be used with a slide projector. The slides are always available in the Pelletier library for students to view in preparation for upcoming exams. This system had two drawbacks: the slides could not be removed from the library and the students could only view them during the hours the library was open.

She wanted to have a website that would house the images for students on the internet. This would be more convenient for students, because they could study whenever they wanted and they would have access anywhere on campus. The professor also insisted that the site have some light weight security for legal reasons.

Project Solution:

With my confidence in the acquisition of new skills, I accepted the job without knowing anything about HTML. I began by scanning the slides with a slide scanner and editing them in Photoshop. Photoshop was necessary because most of the images were old and some had a red or blue tinge. This program also provided an easy fix for re-cropping, straightening and contrast adjustments. I saved the images as jpegs with a consistent resolution and then started to teach myself HTML.

I began the journey with an HTML programming book and Google to help with the basics. Within a couple hours I had learned enough HTML coding to place the images on the site in a thumbnail configuration, allowing the user to click on the thumbnail to see the full image. I also created a carousel where the students could cycle through each image with the aid of a previous and next image button. This way they wouldn’t have to constantly click on a thumbnail and then close the window before selecting another thumbnail.

The security concern was taken care of with some collaboration with the Allegheny College’s webmaster. I cannot reveal the security portion of the website for obvious reasons. I uploaded the site onto the college’s art department server, making it live for the students. At this point I satisfied her requirements for the project, but I wanted to learn more and make the site more aesthetically pleasing. I took it upon myself to develop graphics and improve the composition of the website at no extra charge to the client. I had acquired the skill of HTML and had a site available and just under the course of a day.

As the course continued, she had me do two more websites for the students to coincide with the exams of the course. I made my deadlines for the sites and actually had to pull a couple of all-nighters to perform the task and stay current with my studies.

In the second site I learned how to organize information within tables. I also familiarized myself with the use of href and target keywords. On this site, I included a separate section including the correct slide information for the students. This was a request that I received from a couple of students, giving the user the option to either study from the unlabeled slides or study with the information available.

Around the time of the third website I had learned to utilize image maps. This allowed me to create a more compelling graphical interface for the links and thumbnails. I applied what I learned about the effect of color and composition in the progression of the sites. I swayed away from the use of brilliant color, a downfall for most new web site developers. The emphasis of color in the art, that was being shown, became the focal point for the page.