The
Design:
The
overall goal of this project was to combine all of the things people want to
see/know/buy/do regarding Pop Art within one interactive website instead of
having various sites offering only one or two of the above elements and being
re-directed to another site for the other information, images or tutorials.
The visual design has been inspired by various Pop Art artists. The background was heavily influenced by Roy Lichtenstein’s benday dots, and the icon in the logo by his use of speech bubbles in his artwork. Each page is a different block colour which was inspired by Andy Warhol’s’ silkscreen prints.
The visual design has been inspired by various Pop Art artists. The background was heavily influenced by Roy Lichtenstein’s benday dots, and the icon in the logo by his use of speech bubbles in his artwork. Each page is a different block colour which was inspired by Andy Warhol’s’ silkscreen prints.
Images:
Each
page has a separate CSS file. Banner Images: The banner images represent
artwork from different artists and will be changed continuously to keep the
design fresh and showcase the latest pieces. Added into CSS.
Featured
images are automatically resized into a thumbnail size of 150x150px using the
thumbnail function from the Wordpress Codex. I have added an amended code to
the functions.php file of my theme with adjusted thumbnail sizes. I think this
makes the site look neat.
Fonts:
The theme currently uses Google webfonts (hosted at code.google.com/webfonts). The body font is called Indie Flower, the headings font is called Permanent Marker. The logo font is Anime by dafont.com
The theme currently uses Google webfonts (hosted at code.google.com/webfonts). The body font is called Indie Flower, the headings font is called Permanent Marker. The logo font is Anime by dafont.com
Hosting:
While
originally hosted with Wordpress.com, hosting was moved to Hostmonster.com, in order
to avail of all Wordpress functions and plugins without added cost. This also
ensures that many more files can be uploaded without the worry of running out
of disk space.
Due to the constraints of Wordpress.com, I created the PopItDotCom theme using the self-hosted Wordpress.org download.
Due to the constraints of Wordpress.com, I created the PopItDotCom theme using the self-hosted Wordpress.org download.
Comments:
I
chose to use the Facebook Social Plugin comments system, as it promotes social
sharing and interaction with the Facebook social network. Rather than give
little social functionality (Wordpress built-in), or too much (IntenseDebate
& Disqus), Facebook gives the right amount – while still allowing users to
comment anonymously.
Guest
Posts
I went into the admin area and enabled user registration so that anyone could register.
I then installed the Guest Posts plugin, so that users could contribute their posts to any section of the website.
When a user submits a blog or product, it must then be approved by the administrator.
A contribute link has been added to the headers of all category pages
I went into the admin area and enabled user registration so that anyone could register.
I then installed the Guest Posts plugin, so that users could contribute their posts to any section of the website.
When a user submits a blog or product, it must then be approved by the administrator.
A contribute link has been added to the headers of all category pages
Newsfeed
and Sidebar:
Posts
in the homepage newsfeed are a built-in part of Wordpress. The code featured
there can be seen on all 'index.php' pages for almost all Wordpress themes. The
snippet of code is called 'The Loop' and calls that latest posts from the
database.
Sidebar - Created using CSS3. To add content to the sidebar, I click on 'Appearance' and then 'Widgets'.
Sidebar - Created using CSS3. To add content to the sidebar, I click on 'Appearance' and then 'Widgets'.
Multiple Authors:
Anyone
can register on the website. To become an author, the registrant just has to
apply and if confirmed, will be able to contribute to the blog.
I
chose not to use Wordpress MU, a social networking build of Wordpress as it has
too much functionality that cannot be switched off. Wordpress MU's
functionality is not needed until the website expands – a move from one build
to the other is seemless.
Registration Setup
As
Wordpress already has a registration system in place, I didn't have to create a
new one. One the website navigation, I simply added a link to the registration
page that comes with wordpress.
Online Shop
A
good online storefront to use is Ecwid, a free standalone service that lets
sellers set up stores within minutes - selling both instant downloads and
physical goods. Although, with Ecwid, it would mean that only I would be able
to add products, and other site members would not.
Instead,
I have opted to use the Wordpress blog functionality that I already have. In
the same way you would add a blog post, authors can also add items to sell.
Using cutom fields, they can name the product price, their Paypal email address
and use the 'Featured Image' function for automatically resized thumbnails and
images. All the ‘How to’s’ and rules around selling and buying are shown on the
get-it page…this is also where the authors posts re: this topic will appear.
<script>
jQuery
Rather
than place a self-hosted jQuery script in a page's <head>, insert
Google's instead. Google keeps your jQuery version up to date without having to
replace it for each new build release. Google APIs library also has many other
builds of different UI's to use.
Regrets:
I
would have loved to have built the online shop using PHP an MySQL. I left
myself short of time as this was the first site I had built using Wordpress so
it was time consuming getting to know Wordpress let alone beginning to learn
PHP as I have never used it before.
Again
due to time consrtaints I didn’t have time to make video tutorials. Instead I
have uploaded step by step guides. This is definitely something I will change
as I put a lot of effort in to learning and completing the tutorials myself so
I would like to showcase them properly. It also adds a more interative element
to the site rather than just reading steps.
I
would also like to add drop down menus. I feel the content would be a lot more
organised and easier to find.
