I just finished putting together a list of artists for a website. Out of the two hundred (or more) artists listed, something like three quarters included links for their websites; call it one hundred and fifty links, more or less. Of those links, three - three! - were complete URLs. Two were www.sitename.com, and one actually had the complete http://www.sitename.com format.
Every single one of the rest - all hundred and forty-seven or so - had to be corrected as it was entered into the list. No, that wasn't time consuming at all. One of them wasn't even a website; it was the artist's email address with a "www" tacked on the front. Yes, really. www.artistname@hostname.com
I wish I was making this up.
And despite my best efforts at tweaking and troubleshooting the links, two of them simply don't work. At all. The sites they gave us links for don't exist. Many of the others - maybe two dozen of them - work just fine, if you're willing to sit and wait while they try to load. Two more of them don't load; the site is there, but there doesn't appear to be anything on it. Several have technical problems - broken links, missing images, not enough contrast between the text color and the background color - that are obvious from even a cursory glance at the homepage.
Look, not every webpage needs to be masterpiece of aesthetics and professionalism. When I come to a website, I'm generally looking for information. As long as I can find what I'm looking for, I'm good. But if you're trying to make a living as a visual artist, your online presence is important. Either learn how websites work, or find someone who knows what they're doing to build your site for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feel free to leave comments; it lets me know that people are actually reading my blog. Interesting tangents and topic drift just add flavor. Linking to your own stuff is fine, as long as it's at least loosely relevant. Be civil, and have fun!