New Website

Though I had programmed my website on my own, and was generally pretty pleased with it, the site had the drawback of being difficult to update. An art site is not particularly helpful if it tends to stagnate and isn't updated with one's new work. To alleviate this problem, I had been working on programming a new site that would automate some functions, but this was taking far more time than I had planned. Not happy with how things were going, I decided that it would be more effective to use a 'hosted solution' to the problem. In short, I felt the best use of my limited time was not to spend it concentrating on website design.

After looking at various companies and their solutions to the problem, I decided to go with Visual Server. It doesn't have much in terms of fancy bells and whistles (though they seem to be making relatively frequent updates, the most recent of which includes an easy way to add a shopping cart to the site) but the templates are clean and easy to use. The template setup has also led me to think of my images in a more project oriented fashion. They put the focus of the site squarely on the artwork, which is where it should be. Though a bit on the pricy side, Visual Server is owned by Photo-Eye, so I also feel that at least I am supporting an art-centric organization.

My old URL (www.hgrillphotographic.com) redirects to the new site. However, people had a difficult time remembering that web address and so I now have a new domain. The new site can be found at http://www.howardgrill.com.

I made the site live as of about a week ago, and am still working on getting it just the way I want it. Not all my work is up yet, as I am still working on assembling the images into portfolios. Nonetheless, if anyone takes the opportunity to visit, I would love to hear what you think.