We have been running a series of instructional articles on creation of a portfolio website using the free website builder Wix. We chose Wix for this series because, in our opinion, it is one of the best and most accessible website builders on the web. Virtually anyone can begin creating their own website right away with little web designing experience. This series features plenty of tips and advice which anyone who already has a website can use as well.
If you have not been following along, links to our previous tutorials can be found below, along with the portfolio template we are using.
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Log into your Wix website and click the pages tab at the top of the left menu bar. Here, you can edit pages you have created and add additional pages, such as more gallery pages, About me, Contact, Bio, and more. To set page settings, click the cog wheel icon to the right of the page title. Here, you can set the title of your page, adjust the page address, and fill in the SEO settings.
It is advisable to fill in this section for each of your pages, as this will help your page be easier to find via search engines. At the bottom of the Settings and SEO menu is a button to set styles.
Here, a unique style can be created for any page, including background, borders, and more.
How to create a new Portfolio Page
To create an entirely new page, click the Add Page link at the bottom of the Pages menu. Select your page layout from the left menu.
There are four options here for gallery pages – grid, large grid, slideshow and portfolio. A preview displays how they appear. You may want to try out each one to see how they look before choosing the perfect layout for your portfolio.
Name the page, and if it is a subpage, check the sub-page box.
How to Name Portfolio Pages
For portfolio pages, it is suggested that you NOT label them with headings such as Gallery 1, Gallery 2, Gallery 3, and so on. It’s impossible to tell what’s inside the gallery with such headings. The portfolio title ideally should be descriptive of what is inside. Have it in either of these formats:
- By Date: In Progress, New Paintings - 2011, Past Paintings 2000-2011, Sketchbook
- Theme: Landscapes, Seascapes, Still Life, Horses
- Medium: Oil Paintings, Ceramics, Photography, Drawing
- Style: Abstract Art, Surreal Pieces, Realism, Contemporary
- Series or Art Shows: If you create series of artworks or have several past art exhibitions, page names could be the titles of these.
Editing and Adding Artwork to a Portfolio Page
For this example, we will be selecting the grid layout. In out sample template, this is the Recent Works page. The great thing about the Wix html editor is that anything can be clicked on and edited directly without having to go through various menus. Here are some parts that will be helpful for creating any portfolio page.
- Page Title – Click on this and edit it, if need be.
- Descriptive paragraph – An introductory paragraph will have the dual purpose of helping to introduce your artwork to your visitors and making your artwork easier to find in search engines. Give a summary of what is included on the page and use descriptive words that you can imagine people typing in search engines to find your genre of art.
Image Thumbnails – Click inside the image gallery, and begin adding your images by hitting Organize Images, then uploading your artwork. Add title, description and link for each image (not necessary if you want the image to open in a popup window). Also change the order of images in your gallery by clicking the arrows to the left of each image preview in this menu.
You can also set the style of your thumbnails by clicking Change Style, and edit style to the right of Default. There are a few options here for customizing your gallery style, including changing the skin, colors and fonts. To achieve a satisfactory style, experiment with the settings while instantly viewing the result on your website.
Image Thumbnails – Click inside the image gallery, and begin adding your images by hitting Organize Images, then uploading your artwork. Add title, description and link for each image (not necessary if you want the image to open in a popup window). Also change the order of images in your gallery by clicking the arrows to the left of each image preview in this menu. Once you have created one or two pages, I think you will find that the whole process is very simple. Wix makes it very easy to customize your pages, and even go back anytime and make changes.
If you have any questions concerning creating a website with Wix, please include them below.
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