Portfolio Helper · version 0.3.2
Portfolio Helper fills your website's image portfolio. It runs on your PC: you drop images in, check them, preview, and publish, and it handles the website side for you. The download is an example copy with a sample site, Example Studio, and sample images, so you can try every step. Publishing is switched off in it, so nothing is uploaded anywhere.
Chapter 1
Unzip it once, then it opens in your browser whenever you start it.
Download portfolio-helper-0.3.2.zip, then right-click it and choose Extract All. In the unzipped folder, double-click Portfolio Helper.cmd.
It needs Node.js 20 or newer, free from nodejs.org. Install that first if you don't have it. README.txt in the folder explains what's inside.
The black window is the helper doing its work. A moment later your browser opens the helper page at localhost:5192.
Chapter 2
Images, before/afters, and a tidy-up. Nothing leaves your PC yet.
Drag one image or a whole batch onto the Add images box, or click it to choose files. You can also drop them anywhere on the page. To try it, use the images in example-images.
A window lists each image with what the helper read from the file: generator, version, year and often the prompt.
Use this to show how you changed an image. Put the original first and your final result last. Click + Add a step to show stages in between, and use the arrows to reorder them.
Name each step if you like, fill in what you made it with, then click Add before/after.
On the website it opens comparing your first and last step. Visitors can pick any two steps with the Left and Right buttons.
Everything you've added shows in a grid below the two boxes.
Every change counts up in the status at the top right, for example 3 changes to publish.
Chapter 3
Check it on your PC first, then put it on your website.
A new tab shows the portfolio page exactly as it will look, with your changes in it. Try the before/afters and open a few images.
The preview is only on this PC. Nobody else can see it until you publish.
A window lists what's about to change on your website. Click Publish now and wait about a minute while it works through its steps.
When it says Done! It's live on the site., click Open the portfolio ↗ to see it on your live website.
In the example copy, publishing is switched off: the status at the top right says Example copy · publishing is off. Preview shows the finished result instead. With your own website set up, Publish puts your changes live.
If it says the live site is taking longer than usual, your images are already saved. Check the site again in a few minutes.
The status at the top right now says Everything is live. Close the browser tab, then close the black Portfolio Helper window to turn the helper off.
Next time, start again by double-clicking Portfolio Helper.cmd.
Chapter 4
