http://www.seanmleahy.com

Recently I was working to develop and launch a new online photography portfolio.  I wanted to use a Flash based portfolio option that would allow me to have a full screen portfolio so that people could see my images in large format on their computer screens.  The use of flash provided me with some issues.  If I were to use Flash exclusively then I would eliminate the ability for many mobile browsers, specifically Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch from viewing my portfolio.  So this led me to devise a strategy to tackle both options.  I wanted a full Flash based portfolio for anyone who accessed my website via a regular computer and browser, and yet offer another fully accessible portfolio for anyone accessing my site via an iPhone, iPad or other similar device.

So here is what I came up with.  For full browsers on any laptop or desktop computers I devised a Flash based portfolio in which the user can opt for full screen (artist recommended site in which they can navigate through the various sections of my portfolio.

For people accessing my portfolio on mobile browsers, I opted for a java based portfolio displaying the same images but in a format that still allows for an elegant display sans the Flash so all of Apple’s mobile Safari browsers can display.  This functionality was very important to me since I meet alot of potential clients and other photographers while I am out and about and being able to show my portfolio right from my iPhone is crucial.

How did I do this?  Well it’s far easier than it may seem.  The hardest part was deciding what images to use in my portfolio.  Once I made that decision I created two entirely separate portfolios, one in Flash, the other in Java and html.  Once I created the two separate portfolios I uploaded them to my web space, then came the switching functionality.  I simply added some code to the header of my flash portfolio to detect the browser type, and if it is coming from an iPhone, iPad, iPod or Android it redirects to the url of the iPad based portfolio.  If not, it loads the Flash based one.

Now the downside of course is that I now have two portfolios to manage instead of one, so anytime I add images or update one of the portfolios I will have to remember to do the same to the other, but until Apple allows for Flash I am going to have to keep a dual system in place to present the best portfolio experience to the end user depending on which browser they access my portfolio in.