Best way to display your portfolio online

Designers do's and don'ts

[humaneditor]

Well, the online portfolio part is created. Now what would be the best way to display the sites my firm has designed / developed? Thumbnails?

[cmarshall]

For my part, I'd suggest a combination. Portfolios are notoriously ephemeral things. The best portfolios I've seen have had this form:

Thumbnail, with brief blurb -> Bigger thumbnail, with longer blurb -> Local snapshot of the site in question (May be incomplete, but has all the important bits operational) -> Link to current implementation of the site.

[edited by: encyclo at 2:16 pm (utc) on April 17, 2007]

[limbo]

Portfolios can be approached in many ways - in many respects they are the most important page of a webdesigners website - they showcase your ability to do what you say you can

I suggest we come up with a variety of dos and donts for designers who want to show off there wares.

What I like to see in portfolio's

Large, crisp images

Date ordered info

Sortable info (e.g. by, date, type, application)

Easy to use

Simple Navigation

What I don't like to see in portfolio's

Tiny thumnails

Tricky Navigation (have to click many times to find images/links)

A pop up for each new image in the folio

Images that don't do a peice of work justice

Over-optimised screenshots - if people are there they are probably willing to wait that little extra for quality.

[Frida]

Just wanted to drop you a thank-you line, Limbo - your share will come of help to me too.

[dragsterboy]

An online portfolio is needed for sure. Not because you will get that many visitors necessarily, but because it is an easy reference point for a potential employer.

[Frida]

An online portfolio is needed for sure. Not because you will get that many visitors necessarily, but because it is an easy reference point for a potential employer.

For sure it is definitely so. A well-designed and complete portfolio of your best works will present you to your employer in the best light.