Web Graphics: Art on the Net

Mark Harden, texas.net Museum of Art

Design considerations an art web site

The art web site designer's Bill of Rights:

• I will assume that the visitor to an art site has image loading turned on.
  Although I will provide ALT text for images as well as text links where possible, easy navigation through the site cannot be accomplished with image loading turned off due to the extensive use of Client Side Image Maps.

• I will design to a minimum screen resolution of 800 x 600 pixels.
  The low-end system standard resolution of 640 x 48 pixels does not allow sufficient room for effective display of the art.

• I will design to a color depth of 24 bits (16.7 million colors).
  8 bit (256 colors) is inadequate for representation of art...I will, however, refrain from haughtily demanding that my visitors reconfigure their entire systems just to view my web site.

• Recognizing the limited bandwidth of the vast majority of site visitors, I will design for effective navigation using a 28.8k dailup connection as the standard for download speed.
  I will, though, expect my visitors to have the patience to wait for a 200kb download of their favorite painting once they have clicked on it.

• The raison d'être of the site assures I will encourage feedback in the form of email links on every page of the site, even to the extent of offering a scanning "Request Line"
  I will, however, expect my visitors to be patient while awaiting my response, and, in particular, to have the decency to acknowledge receipt of a custom scan

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