In this post I started making some notes on the process of creating a visually rich electronic portfolio using SharePoint mySite and a CTLT developed template called “Poster.”
I previously noted a series of discoveries and logistical hassles getting all my images collected into one place, and sized correctly. Today I finished a draft of the portfolio by writing the narrative in the center column and adding the images along the left and right. As I wrote I found that I wanted to add some other images, so I explored imbedding them into the text aligning the text left or right around them.
This was not totally satisfactory, neither the visual result or the process of placing the images. A problem with placing the images is that the width of the editor, and hence the word wrap around the images was different than the final presentation.
While I was able to get the bulk of the project finished using a Macintosh OS X, and Firefox 1.5, composing the text for the center column onscreen was a problem. If the column were to contain only text, it would not be too hard to write in another tool and paste in, but I was also imbedding images. Finally, I resorted to moving to Windows/IE to use the WYSIWYG editor.
The switching platforms was annoying, but not too big a problem, because I was able to move my draft text from platform to platform by simply including it in the web part from one platform and then editing from the other.
At this writing, I have not moved the large format versions of the images to the portfolio. My intention is to include the large formats, and with those, to include the metadata that the document library requests.
