Art @ Abouthalf.com
Today I launched a new portfolio mini-site for my artwork.
I wanted something I could put my own spin on, but I didn’t want something as bloated as Squarespace (or as expensive).
I set up a small static site using the Metalsmith static site generator. I modeled my portfolio sort of like a blog. Each artwork gets a “post” with the title, date, some tags to categorize the medium, a picture, and perhaps a short blurb.
The home page for the site simply lists all the works in reverse chronological order. I added some links which will allow one to see one category at a time.
To keep the site fast on mobile I use the Blazy lazy-loader for images. Blazy is small and minimal but still has an API so I can call it on demand when filtering on the home page.
I used simple CSS columns for the layout - this lets me fill the screen on a large monitor without having some complex layout algorithm.
On the whole I’m pretty happy with the result. It’s small, simple, and fast. It came together over a couple of days with only a minimum of cursing at Metalsmith’s lack of documentation.