Tools to Create Online Portfolios
Posted on Mon, Jul 19, 2010
Notes from the Intern's Desk:
By Darcie
Online portfolios have become increasingly popular among college students and professionals. They’re great tools for all majors including journalism, public relations, graphic design, biology and more. Everyone has work to show, whether it’s a design portfolio, public relations campaign, magazine spread, thesis paper or lab experiment.
If you’re looking for the easiest and cheapest way to create an online portfolio, then check out http://carbonmade.com/. This website features more than 220,000 online portfolios. The free option (called “Meh”) allows you to upload five projects and 35 images, as well as create a profile with your picture, your contact information and your biography. The best part? You determine your web address at carbonmade.com. I would recommend your name; for example, mine is http://www.darcieguilbert.carbonmade.com.
If you don’t think “Meh” offers enough room for your work, then check out Carbonmade’s “Whoo” option. It allows you to upload 50 projects, 500 images and 10 videos, including Flash. This costs $12 a month, but it also includes tech support and other features.
For those of you who are Mac users, you’re in luck. You automatically have the iWeb program on your computer. iWeb is a simple website design application. The interface is user-friendly and allows you to upload images, videos, text, blog and podcasts. The only downfall is you have to find your own web hosting site. MobileMe is most compatible with iWeb, but Justhost.com, iPage, HostMonster, GoDaddy, Yahoo, Google and BlueHost all work, too.
Now that you know where to start, check out this great article from Smashing Magazine http://bit.ly/jMlPM to help you develop the content of your site.
While online portfolios are a terrific tool, they should not replace traditional physical portfolios (especially when going for an interview). Having your work present gives the interviewer the option to ask questions about it and for you to answer.
What do you think of online portfolios? Do you have one?