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Taylor — Site Owner Guide

This guide is for Taylor. It explains how to log in, edit the site, and add new artwork — without needing a developer.

1. One-time setup (developer does this once)

The developer connects this repository to Netlify and turns on a few features. After this is done once, you can manage everything yourself.

Steps for the developer

  1. Connect to Netlify

    • In Netlify: Add new site → Import from Git → choose this repository.
    • Build command: npm run build
    • Publish directory: dist
    • Deploy.

  2. Enable Netlify Identity

    • Netlify site dashboard → Site configuration → Identity → Enable Identity.
    • Under Registration preferences, choose Invite only.
    • Under External providers, leave email enabled.
    • Under Emails, customize the invitation/confirmation/recovery templates if desired (optional).

  3. Enable Git Gateway

    • In the Identity section → Services → Git Gateway → Enable Git Gateway.
    • This is what lets the admin save changes back to GitHub.

  4. Invite Taylor

    • Identity tab → Invite users → enter [email protected].
    • She will receive an email with an invitation link.

  5. (Recommended) Add a custom domain

    • Domains tab → Add a domain → follow the wizard.

That's it. From here on, Taylor manages content directly.

2. How Taylor signs in

  1. Go to https://YOUR-SITE.com/admin/ (or whatever the live domain is, with /admin/ on the end).
  2. Click Sign in by email.
  3. Type your email. Netlify will email you a one-time link.
  4. Open the email and click the link. You will be sent back to the admin and signed in.

"Remember this device"

  • Leave it checked on your personal computer or phone. You will stay signed in for weeks at a time and won't have to use the email link every visit.
  • Uncheck it if you are signing in on a shared, public, or borrowed device. You will be signed out automatically when you close the browser tab.

To sign out

Click your name in the top right of the admin → Log out.

3. Editing artworks

In the admin, the left sidebar has two sections:

  • Artworks — every painting on the site.
  • Site Text — all the words on the Home and Gallery pages.

Add a new artwork

  1. Click Artworks → New Artwork.
  2. Fill in:
    • URL ID — short slug like silver-hymn. Lowercase, no spaces, no symbols. Don't change this after publishing.
    • Title
    • Artwork Image — click the field, then Upload to add a photo from your computer.
    • Price — whole dollars, e.g. 1450.
    • Dimensions — e.g. 24 x 36 in.
    • Medium — Oil, Acrylic, or Mixed Media.
    • Year
    • Availability — Available or Sold.
    • Short Description — one or two sentences.
    • Show on Home page (Featured Works) — check to feature it on the Home page (only the first 3 featured pieces show).
    • Display Order — lower numbers come first in Featured Works on the Home page (e.g. 1 is shown before 5).
  3. Click Publish → Publish now.
  4. Wait about 1–2 minutes. Netlify will rebuild the site automatically and your new piece will be live.

Edit an existing artwork

  1. Click Artworks, then click the piece.
  2. Make changes.
  3. Click Publish → Publish now.

Mark a piece as Sold

  1. Open the artwork.
  2. Change Availability from Available to Sold.
  3. Publish.

Delete an artwork

  1. Open the artwork.
  2. Click the Delete button (top right).
  3. Confirm. The site will rebuild without that piece.

Reorder Featured Works on the Home page

The Home page shows up to 3 pieces marked as Featured, in the order set by Display Order.

To change the order:

  1. Open each featured piece.
  2. Set Display Order: e.g. 1, 2, 3 for the order you want.
  3. Publish each one.

4. Editing the words on the site

Click Site Text → Home & Gallery Text. You can edit:

  • Hero (top of Home): eyebrow label, main headline, subheading, button labels.
  • About Taylor: heading and the full paragraph about you.
  • Featured Works Section: section heading and the "View full collection" link text.
  • Contact Section: heading and the paragraph above the form.
  • Gallery Page: eyebrow, page heading, and the filter label.

After editing, click Publish → Publish now. The site rebuilds in 1–2 minutes.

5. Contact form messages

Form submissions arrive in two places:

  1. Email to [email protected] (set up in Netlify → Forms → Notifications).
  2. The Netlify Forms dashboard, where every message is saved permanently.

To view them:

  • Netlify dashboard → your site → Forms → contact.

6. Things to avoid

  • Do not change a piece's URL ID after publishing it. Search engines and any links you've shared point to that ID.
  • Do not edit files in GitHub directly. Use the /admin/ interface — it's safer.
  • Do not delete the Site Text entry. You can edit it, but the site needs it to exist.

7. If something goes wrong

  • I can't sign in. Check the email you used to receive the invitation. Try the Forgot password / send link option on the login screen.
  • My change didn't appear. Wait 2 minutes and refresh. Netlify needs a moment to rebuild.
  • The image upload failed. Try a smaller file (under 5 MB), or convert it to JPEG.
  • I deleted something by mistake. Contact the developer — every change is saved in Git history and can be recovered.