Underground Art

Underground Art

Underground Art, Inc.'s website was a pleasure to build. With over 190 pages, around 20 different database tables, and more than 54,000 lines of code, it is a monster. Written almost entirely in php with a MySQL database backend, Underground Art's site is a dynamic work of art.

The staff at Underground Art was concerned mostly with being able to update their site on a regular basis as they saw fit. None of them knew anything about building or updating websites, so it was my job to make a site for them that could be easily updated at any time without needing to know anything other than how to fill out a form.

Underground Art

To accomplish this task, I created a password protected custom content management system that allowed the staff at Underground Art to change virtually every aspect of their site with ease. Everything from adding images to the galleries, to changing the font and color of links throughout the site. Each background of each page can be changed, links can be added and removed, biographies re-written, home page items added and removed, and they can even change the header graphic to accommodate any new logos or the such.

In addition to the already complete content management package, I also wrote an e-mail newsletter mass-mailer for Underground Art to use. Anyone can sign up for the newsletter, and start receiving regular e-mails full of news and special offers. To be respectful, each e-mail also includes a link specific to the recipient that they can click on to unsubscribe from further e-mails. All this can be accomplished with ease by filling out the form in the content management section of the site. The mailer was designed so that the e-mails could be formatted exactly how they saw fit, and have the ability to include images as well. Before sending the e-mail, a preview is provided so that it can be proof read, and any changes can be made before sending it out. Once the e-mail has been finalized, with one click of the mouse, the e-mail will be sent to everyone in the database. Be it one subscriber or 1,000, the program does the work. As an added feature, the staff at Underground Art can at any time look to see how many subscribers there are, their e-mail addresses, and when they subscribed. They can also view the subscribers that have opted out, and see when they decided to no longer receive the newsletter.

Also included in their site are three miscellaneous pages. These are pre-formatted blank pages that can be used for anything. These pages were designed at Underground Art's request to hold information about contests and other various temporary items. The pages can be populated with images and text by using the content management system.

Underground Art

Being a tattoo and body piercing studio, the main focus of Underground Art's site are the galleries. There are galleries for each artist to display their work, and updating these galleries is a breeze with the content management system. They just click a button, browse their local computer for the image they wish to upload, and click the submit button. Once submitted, the public page is instantly updated. It couldn't be any easier to use.

Underground Art

On the gallery pages, all images are displayed as thumbnails in order from newest to oldest, 15 per page. There are page numbers at the bottom of each gallery to navigate through all the pages. Once the thumbnails are clicked, a full sized image appears to the right of the thumbnails without needing a page refresh. This system reduces load times, and makes for a better user experience.

The staff at Underground Art couldn't be happier with their site, and I couldn't be happier to have done it for them. It worked out perfectly for them. They use the content management system to its fullest, and update their site quite regularly.