A method can be used to provide electrically-conductive articles with electrolessly plated metal, or articles having antimicrobial properties for marine environments. The method includes disposing a silver-containing composition onto one or more supporting sides of a substrate such as continuous polymeric web. The silver-containing composition comprises a water-soluble complex of a reactive polymer with reducible silver ions, the reactive polymer comprising: (a) greater than 1 mol % of recurring units comprising sulfonic acid or sulfonate groups, (b) at least 5 mol % of recurring units comprising a pendant group capable of crosslinking via [2+2] photocycloaddition, and optionally (c) at least 1 mol % of recurring units comprising a pendant amide, hydroxyl, lactam, phosphonic acid, or carboxylic acid group. The reducible silver ions can be suitably reduced and the reactive polymer can be photoexposed to provide crosslinking in patternwise or uniform fashion.