Web Designer 11 Set up a bespoke online gallery with Xara’s software
Digital artists are spoilt for choice when it comes to online galleries. Behance and deviantART have become popular hosts for sci-fi and fantasy images, and even social networking sites can become repositories of your finest works. There’s still something to be said for having your own professional website though, with an easy-to-remember address and bespoke design.
Xara’s Web Designer promises to take the headaches out of HTML and make design straightforward. A peek at sample sites shows wide photos which stretch across the site, minimalist navigation and a responsive design to make it easy to navigate on mobile devices (though these are exclusive to the £70 premium version).
A team of coders would usually be required to put together such a site, but with Web Designer it’s a doddle. Adding text and images is as intuitive as any desktop publishing or word processing software, while specific features include a neat overview of pages so you won’t lose that contact form.
Even with the most basic version you’ll have a decent site and gallery up and running in minutes.