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Tools

Glossary

Here’s a helpful list of terms that come up in Art 490, Artist’s Websites.

LMK what other terms we should add as we go along.

Above the Fold

Back in the days of newspapers on racks, the front page was folded in half. You could see the top half through the rack window and the bottom half was hidden "below the fold". Being on the front page was good, but being "above the fold" was even better. We use the term Above The Fold on the web to mean the top content on your site that we see before having to do any scrolling.

Backend

see Frontend

Freemium

As you look through your website options, you will find Free, Pay, and Freemium choices. A free site, like Tumblr, or Medium, is just free. A pay site, like Squarespace, or FolioSnap, is just pay. With freemium sites like Wix or WordPress.com, you can have certain basic elements for free, often free forever, and you have the choice of paying for upgrades like a custom domain name or turning ads off.

Frontend

The "front facing" part of your website. The part that visitors see. What your website looks like. As opposed to the Backend of your website, which visitors do not see, but where you organize words, images, galleries, pages, and so on.

Imposter Complex

Feeling insecure, unworthy, or a fraud. Even people of great accomplishments can feel this way. For us, as emerging artists, it can be common. Of course, you are young in your career, but don’t apologize for who you are, the quality of your work, or what you’ve achieved. Take pride in what you can do today. Strive to grow into tomorrow.

Open Source

Open Source software, also known as _Free Software:

Responsive Design

A website using Responsive Design is a website that responds to different devices. It will adapt to look good and be easy to use on a 5" phone, a 46" desktop monitor, or any other format. Most of the platforms, and most of the themes or templates from those platforms, that you are likely to use for your website will already be responsive. But it’s essential to check. Laptop and Mobile are both huge today. A site that looks good on one but not the other is a big problem.

Skeuomorphic

Skeuomorphic Designs for the web and user interfaces (UI) are designs that mimic their real-world counterparts. For example, early computer "desktops" mimicked physical desktops with elements like leather blotters and maybe a pencil cup in the corner. Organizers or address books had lined pages and graphics to represent spiral bindings. Video apps had control buttons that mimicked VCR control panels. Flat Design is generally more popular today. It can be a cyclical trend, moving from Skeuomorphic to Flat and back. Skeuomorphic is also popular for new things. By tying to real-world or analog equivalents, digital tools can guide new users into new spaces and new ideas.

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Image: Teaching Without Frills

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