Why is a plugin better than an art theme for publishing art sites?

Art Gallery Plugin has its features and functionality packaged into a plugin as opposed to a theme. Having its features in a plugin are a lot better than having it in a theme. Here’s why:

Using a plugin to achieve art publishing goals makes better sense than using a them for a few critical reasons. Understanding those reasons will make it clear why using Art Gallery Plugin is better than choosing an art theme:

Future Proofing

Professionals who’ve worked with WordPress understand the value of future-proofing content. The strategy of enhancing WordPress, with a plugin instead of a theme, to manage artwork and artist content, future-proofs the content entered into it.

In the back-end it’s future-proofed because the artist and artwork content is segregated into it’s own custom post type – an ontology that’s unambiguous and separate from Posts, Pages and other WordPress content types. This lends itself to import and export more elegantly.

In the front-end the content is published using structured data packaging. As global standards regarding “ideal structured data presentation” change over time, this plugin will be updated to keep pace with best practices.

Compatibility

Artists and galleries understand the need to keep appearances fresh. This often leads to the need to change WordPress themes. If a gallery site is built on an art based theme, with the taxonomies built into the theme, upgrading to a better theme may be very problematic. Art based themes are not designed to be compatible with each other in accordance with a global standard. All of the time invested into curating pieces into one theme may not be able to be “moved” or “migrated” into a new theme.

Being locked into the same pair of pants isn’t fun or fresh.

Art Gallery Plugin solves this problem. With Art Gallery Plugin changing themes is much easier. The features and curated content are managed by a plugin, not a theme. That means themes can be changed more easily, without throwing out or having to re-curate the content and URL architecture that’s critical for maintaining accrued SEO.

Learning Curve

Getting artists and curators to manage content on their own, without the need for a web designer or WordPress expert, is the goal of this plugin. Classically, without an art theme or art plugin, WordPress designers would need to devise a unique schema for how to manage artists and art content. Good designers document the schema they devise and train curators on how to maintain the content “within the box”.  Without Art Gallery Plugin this process can be quite confusing to train someone on, and difficult for the training to be remembered. With Art Gallery Plugin the schema for entering art and artist content is consistent. It’s so much easier to train curators on.