Tuesday, June 30, 2009

New Website!!


Thirteen years ago, I hired a high school student to design a basic webpage for me with nothing more than a couple of images and some contact information. If people wanted to see my artwork, they could email me and I would send current images. It was enough. Everybody didn't have websites back then, anyway.

A couple of years ago, I decided to join the modern age and create the ultimate website. One of my babysitters had just finished a class in web design . . . so I traded her my kiln to help me design a website (I love a good barter, and the kiln had become a coffee table in my studio). I bought tons of expensive software--plus the software reference books as well as Web Design for Dummies. My babysitter helped me when I had questions and helped me get everything set up, but I really wanted to do this MYSELF. I wanted to know what I was doing so that I could update and switch out images whenever I wanted. Sounds awesome, right?

I wish that I had left my old site up one more day, just so you could see the before and after. Let's just say that my website was pathetic. It was too busy, too slow--oh, and it only looked right on a Mac. MY Mac. On anyone else's computer, nothing lined up correctly, and there was a strange floating lavender box on the right side of the screen. I would sheepishly hand out my business cards at conferences saying, "My website is still kinda under construction, but you can sort of see some images on it. I hope to have a new site up soon . . . "

Oh, and I haven't even mentioned the hair-pulling frustration that I experienced every time I tried to change anything (to fix one typo in the text for some reason always resulted in a good eight hours of trying to fix every single page and reload the entire thing). Just thinking about the whole experience is making my heart pound. Breathe, sf. Breathe.

Enter my guardian angels . . .
Thanks to Lisa and Laura who posted about their new fab website that they created in a weekend using a TEMPLATE, I now have a new site. Just in time for conference season. I can't wait to proudly hand out my business cards and say "Check out my website. No really. You can actually look at it. It will load. You can email me. You can see images. I can fix a typo in five minutes. I can upload new images in the time it takes me to reheat a latte."

So . . . pay me a visit at www.sfhardy.com. And, let me know if you see any typos. I can fix them!

sf

10 comments:

Little Ms J said...

I love it! I really like the illustrations and especially the one of the little girl with her back to you in the kitchen. Website is very classy and nicely done. Now you guys have to help me! I set up a website and it is a mess!

Kimberly Derting said...

WOW, SF, I'm blown away by your talent and your creativity! I love it!!!

StaffPicks said...

Website. Wowsite. Fantastic stuff. Not just the art but the smooth webby feel. I didn't see any typos mostly because I was totally blown away by everything.

Katie Anderson said...

Your website ROCKS!!!!

I like Paul's term "Wowsite". That's totally it!

lisa and laura said...

Sarah Francis the website is gorgeous! I'm completely blown away by your artwork, illustrations and bio. You are one fabulous lady.

Our youngest sister, Stacey, is in the process of setting up a nursery decor business using one of their templates and her site looks amazing! We'll do a blog post once she's finalized everything.

Congrats on the new site! Glad you had as good of an experience with them as we did!

lisa and laura said...

And dude, I just spelled your name wrong. I meant Sarah FRANCES, of course. I'm just not used to typing out your full name. Doh.

Sherrie Petersen said...

I was blown away when I saw Lisa and Laura's site. Like you I did mine myself. It's okay, but after seeing theirs I realized how clunky mine was. I'm heading over to check yours out right now.

Hardygirl said...

Miss J--check out bludomain. It's the easiest thing I've ever done, and the price is super reasonable.

Thanks Kimberly, Paul, Lila and Katie!! So much.

Lila--absolutely can't wait to see your sister's new endeavor. I know it'll be great!

Paul--where ya been?? Thanks for the hu-mongo ego boost!!

Yes!! Sovang--clunky is the exact word that describes my old site. I feel so slick and 21st century now.

sf

Christy Raedeke said...

It's perfect! As lovely and beautiful as the artwork in it!

Stephanie Perkins said...

Your new website is GORGEOUS!! It's the perfect compliment to your beautiful art!

Our Motto

Our Motto