For my final project, I chose to create an art website I can use to expand my freelance art business, kellymay.art.
I installed a new Wordpress site at kellymay.me. This helped me understand the inner workings of reclaim hosting and Wordpress, how they interact, and especially, what you should not do. I learned that installing a site through Wordpress will not be as easy to link up to my desired file folder structure, as set up in my Visual Studio Code app. I will have to link the site and move the files and folders around in Visual Studio Code/ DropBox (all of course, with saving the files locally to ensure a safe backup if things go wrong).
I carried over my portfolio logo and created my art website logo from it. I customized the Wordpress site to fit the look of my Instagram. I tried out several different plugins to link my Instagram account over, and realized that because I had linked up a separate account before, I would need to take more steps to switch accounts and still allow for both to be accessed. I ended up liking the Instagram Feed plugin much better than the Easy Social Feed plugin and the Social Slider Feeds. The screen looked better responsively when using the Instagram Feed Plugin. Beyond the home page, I created a portfolio page for users to view my work, as well as an about page for users to feel more confident in my services, and a contact page for users to contact me directly about inquiries. I used the WPForms plugin on the contact page and set up the contact form as I would like users to interact with it. This plugin was very difficult to set up and took hours on end. I was very pleased to set it up correctly and get test emails sent through to my email, so now I will receive all information sent through by users! I added in several pictures in galleries, widgets, and featured image spots on the Wordpress theme I chose and learned of the differences of how images are formatted through these setups. Also, the theme I chose is the Twenty Seventeen Wordpress site. I added a new blog post to welcome users and I envision using this as a way to introduce my finished works, explain their significance and update users on my progress and recents projects. I molded the site to be most useful to myself as an artist without the complications of a shop site, as that would be more for a products website.
Overall, I am very pleased with my result and hope to add more content as my business develops!