COMPARING CMS/
HOSTING OPTIONS
FOR SELLING
ART-RELATED
GOODS
This website evaluates and compares the CMS/hosting platforms WordPress and Sqaurespace for the use-case of selling art-related goods, such as prints, zines, or art objects.
Charlie Chayyim Shaw
Information Technologies
Spring 2023
Prof. Rachel Daniell
Goals
Why?
Examples
Final
Recommendation
Loose Joint's website
[Source: screenshot of loosejoints.biz]
Loose Joint's item listing for I Wish I Never Saw The Sun
[Source: screenshot of loosejoints.biz/collections/out-of-print/products/sunshine]
Printed Matter's catalog
[Source: screenshot of printedmatter.org/catalog]
Printed Matter's item listing for Today I Shall Judge Nothing That Occurs
[Source: screenshot of printedmatter.org/catalog/49523/]
Printed Matter's item listing for Candy Darling
[Source: screenshot of printedmatter.org/catalog/5816/]
some examples of art-centered commerce websites who utilize custom coding to create a 'product-enhancing' design.
Loose Joints is publishing company and graphic design studio based in Marseilles. Their website uses custom-coding hosted on Cloudflare's servers, with checkout powered by Shopify.
Printed Matter is a bookstore and arts organization in Chelsea centered on artists' books and zines. Their website uses an SQL database of all their current and past catalog items, with custom coding styling it.

Their website is not only useful as an online storefront, but also as "one of the largest and most comprehensive databases of artists' books and related publications". Rare out-of-print books, such as this collection of Candy Darling's writings, often have some of their most extensive online records on Printed Matter's site.