And so Plurk finally let people design their own pages with CSS. (If you haven't heard already, Plurk is a micrblogging site that has taken the blogging community by storm! And now, it's even taking over my non-blogging friends.)

The first day I started plurking, when I was deciding which template to use for my plurk page, I thought, "It'd be great if we can fully customize our own plurk pages." And, wow, now we can!

Ana, Kim and I were talking the other day of setting up a site that offers free multiply themes, and now we're adding free Plurk themes to our portfolio! Watch out for that!

So, anyway. I, of course, customized my theme already. Check it out:

I loves it! Hans is walking in the snow, and it TOTALLY goes with my branding. Hehe.

Oh, and if you've customized your own theme, too, join us and share your design in the Plurk themes pool! :) I've already got a list of designs in the air... I'll probably start with some anime plurk themes since they're the easiest to make (for me, anyway). Maybe some Suzumiya Haruhi, Hageren or Nodame? Haha! I think I'll accept requests, so just contact me!

Oh, and if you're still not plurking, you're missing out on the fun!

Friday, July 13, 2007

10th Philippine Webbys, now open?

The Philippine Web Awards (PWA) is an award-giving body that annually recognizes the best Filipino-created Web sites and honors the individuals and teams behind them. The PWA continues to attract participants here and abroad and gain support from major industry players.

(source: The Philippine Web Awards website)

For years now, the PWA has been giving awards (like, duh) to awesome, awesome sites. I visit the award-winning sites regularly to "study" their designs, and notice things that I didn't notice before so that I could apply those things to my own designs. Learn from the masters, as they say.

I visited the Phil Webbys page today, and, lookit! They changed layouts! And BANNER! It's now the 10th webbys!

The awarding will be on November 29th, still a few months away, but the nomination period is now open!

Er... That's what I think, anyway. I read through the site (for, like, 3 times), but there wasn't any mention of the nomination period. Maybe they forgot to put it up? Or maybe they haven't set the deadline for submissions. My officemate tried looking for the submission period, too, but it really wasn't there.

Hmmm.... But then the nomination form is up already, so... um... yeah.

*ahem*

So, folks, go get your sites on the roster (or convince your friends to join)! Heeheehee.

Saturday, June 30, 2007

glammed up Google Docs

I was browsing around the official Google blogs today, and I saw a new post at the Official Google Docs & Spreadsheets Blog: An entirely new way to stay organized. As readers of this blog know, I already said in my google-luuuuuuuuuv post that I wished Google Docs existed when I was still a student. Well, it didn't, and I suppose there's nothing I can do about it, but the cool thing now is that it's getting more improvements.

Eye candy~
It says in the post:

"The entire document list has been given a complete visual overhaul..."

So I strode on over to Google Docs and ooh-lala! Complete visual overhaul it is. I'm lovin' it. ♡

Okay, okay, so maybe it's not so revolutionary. It actually has a classic layout, but a modern look, much like Explorer programs we're used to. It's not just eye candy, really, but the interface is much nicer and easier to use now.

Folderssssssss
Ah, yes. The super-organizer's best friend. Although I already thought that the labels were fine, dontcha just love it when you can file your stuff where they're supposed to be?

Even cooler, our new folders continue to work like the tags they've replaced - your old tags are automatically converted to folders and documents can live in more than one folder at a time.

Oh, thank you, G! Mehehehe. Now we don't have to reorganize everything just because something new is added to the system.



There are other new features, like right to left directionality for spreadsheets, and Google Suggest kind of thing going on in the search.

For more info, you can also check the What's New page for Google Docs & Spreadsheets.

I suppose the only thing that raised my eyebrow is the fact that they entitled their blog entry to be "an entirely new way to stay organized". Er... Folders aren't actually a new thing, and, as I said, the look of the site isn't phenomenally amazing. But, hey, can you blame Google for making an attractive headline? ^^ Yey for the continuous improvement of Goofle products, indeed.

So now, I'm wondering: might this mean that GMail will also get a makeover? Hehehe...

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

iGoogle Teahouse Ghost Captured!

I visited Google Analytics the other day, and I decided to check what keywords my readers used to stumble upon my site. I made a pretty interesting discovery.

Ever since Google released the Personalized Google Homepage -- now iGoogle -- it had been a topic of interest, both for Google enthusiasts and casual visitors alike. And, really, what's not to be interested about? The header changes every two hours, and you see the sun (or moon, or whatever else is in the header) change color or location. Details change, usually in an amusing way. My theme is the Teahouse Theme, and I see my kitsune (fox) sleeping, fishing, rowing a boat, feeding ducks, playing the guitar, picking oranges, having breakfast, lunch, and dinner, stargazing, and a few others in between.

But there's one particular scene that evades most people's eyes. Observe.

Exhibit A: Teahouse Theme at 3:32 am


Exhibit B: Teahouse Theme at 3:33 am


Upon closer inspection...


Okay, so the incense burned out. But what happened to the dumplings? Read more...

Here's what happened:


Yuurei ate them! Haha! I found out that a number of users have been looking for this screenshot, the iGoogle Teahouse Ghost, and they surf on in to my google-luuuuuuuuuv post.

This screen was captured in March 22, and I never see the ghosts now, because catching it is so freakin' hard. They don't necessarily appear between 3:32 and 3:33, but they DO appear between 2am and 4am.Many people wish to see a screenie, so here it is, by popular demand! Heeheehee.

(Oh, and I'm sorry about the hideous watermark. Disclaimer: The graphic is Google's, not mine. The screenshot is mine, though, and I claim credits for capturing the Teahouse Ghosts. Hehe.)



EDIT: (October 23, 2007) I caught the iGoogle Teahouse Ghosts again! YES!!! I practically jumped up in my chair and immediately looked at the source. Now I know what the URL of the ghost banner is! But just to make things more fun, I'm not going to say what it is. I WILL say, though, that the secret screen appears at 3:14 AM. (Yes, that's in the URL, too.)

But if you REALLY want to know and have no patience to wait for it, then Google search it. There's a website that lists all the 3:14 screens. Do me favor, though: please do NOT post the URL in my blog. I maintain that it's more fun to catch the 3:14 screen yourself.

Have fun hunting!

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

How much is your blog worth?

Like, whoa. @_@ Haha! This is fun. $31,000, eh? Well, I suppose it's nothing compared to Carl Ocab's $377,000-something something, nor to Darren Rowse's $4,000,000-something something. But still, at least it's not zero dollars, right? ^_______^

As Dane Carlson says on his website:

Inspired by Tristan Louis's research into the value of each link to Weblogs Inc, I've created this little applet using Technorati's API which computes and displays your blog's worth using the same link to dollar ratio as the AOL-Weblogs Inc deal.

Oh yeah, I think it's only fair that I mention that I got this link from Junelle's website. I think this test thingy has been around for quite a while, but I only heard about it today. Heeheehee.

How about you, how much is your blog worth?

My blog is worth $31,049.70.
How much is your blog worth?

Where Cool People Share Cool Stories

That right there, my friends, is the tagline for the new user-powered social bookmarking site. Blipoo, as their website says, is about interesting things from "cool" people.

Its existence is thanks to kidblogger Carl Ocab (if I understood correctly), and I think it would only be just if I paid him forward. Friends, join the community. It's sort of like Digg but it's less... "serious", if I may say so. From what I've seen so far, Blipoo takes a fun, comedic approach to this... It opens the floor to people who simply want to share interesting stories, be it serious or not. Just look at their logo!

So far, I think there are only a handful of members (compared to the hundred gazillion people online). I say this because my news article about Random Vandal has only been blipped four times so far, and yet it's on the front page! Hehe. I'm not complaining, of course.

So if you're cool -- which I'm sure you are -- and you've got a cool story -- which I'm sure you do -- then head on over to Blipoo and share it!

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

art out on the streets

Beth told me about this fairly new website called Random Vandal.

Random Vandal was originally created to "satisfy a growing interest in street art".

Personally, though, I don't think it only satisfies the interest. I think it sparks the interest, if anything. Street art, although illegal half the time, is still art. (Of course, I must say that some vandalisms are not quite what I would call art, but that's another discussion altogether.) And, like most art forms, they are usually taken for granted until someone points it out.

Well, here I am to point it out to you, my friends, as my own friend made me notice it.



I initially thought that the website is for witty, comedic, or interesting street art, or maybe all that at once. Although it is for all that, as well, what strikes me most is the thought behind the pieces. They're not all just wit and laughs. Some of them are trying to make a point. Some of them make me think. Some of them have a message of world peace, or some other similar thing. The pieces convey different things, and they come across as different things to different people.

Hm. Isn't that precisely what art is?

So head on over to Random Vandal and browse through their gallery, and even subscribe to their feed. I thoroughly recommend it!

For contributions or questions, email their team: mail.randomvandal@gmail.com

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

checkin' out Xpango

A friend emailed me today, saying I can get an Apple iPod Video for free. ("Get an iPod... FREE!") True to my skepticism about these things, I raised an eyebrow and almost ignored the email.

Almost.

After an hour or so, I shrugged, deciding to click on the link she gave me. Why not? I thought.I've got nothing to lose, right?

The link went to Xpango. When the page loaded, my first thought was "Hm. Nice colors. Sleek layout. Nice." Ahahaha. Of course, my web designer brain toggled into action again. Attracted by the nice website design, I read on. As it turns out, I can get an Apple iPod for free. Not only that, but I can also get a Creative Zen Vision, a Nokia N-series cellphone, and/or the new Xbox 360 Elite Edition... all for free.

Well, free in terms of cash, anyway. What you actually have to do to get them gadgets -- there's a whole list of them, not just the ones I wrote down -- is either (a) buy stuff from the products they got there (also techie stuff), (b) visit and/or buy from Xpango's sponsors, or (c) invite friends to sign up in Xpango. Of course, we'll all go for the third option first. When a friend joins the program, you get 1 credit to your name,when that friend tries something out on Xpango.

Okay. Here's the cool part: you don't need a hundred gazillion credits to get a gadget. For example, I want the 60 gig Creative Zen Vision W, and I can get it for only 26 credits. That means I only need 26 of my friends to sign up under my name! Cool, huh? And if you change your mind and decide you want a cellphone instead of an XBox, you can change your selected gift anytime. As long as it hasn't been delivered to you yet. Hehe.

I browsed their FAQs and their other pages, and soon enough, I was convinced. I signed up, and I just brought my friend one step closer to getting her gadget.

And so, my friends, if you want to try it like I did, click on this link to Xpango, browse around, and register! Oh, and please do me a favor and put my referrer number, 90472425, as your referrer.

You got nothing to lose by doing this anyway, right? :)

Friday, May 25, 2007

the 13-year-old ain't 13 no more

When I first saw the title of Carl Ocab's website, my first thought was "Now way, he's just thirteen?!"

My second thought was: "I wonder what he'll do when he turns 14..." Hehe. Now, the day has come. Happy birthday, Carl! He's now 14 years old! And, to celebrate it, he's even holding a contest with $220 worth of prizes!

I still wonder what he'll do with his site name, though. I mean, he's got links all over the net (probably a hundred gazillion of them) that says "Make Money Online With a 13-year-old" So what now will he keep that and just explain that he was 13 when he started, thus the name? Or will he change the name every year?

This got me thinking about my journal. I'm anticipating that, one day, I'll change the purpose of this journal when I finally decide on my niche. What happens then? Will I change my blog's name? Hm. Then again, maybe I should just make a new blog altogether. Hehe.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

you ain't never too young

I think it's already common knowledge that kids are more tech-savvy than adults, probably because they adjust more than oldies, and mostly because they're the ones growing up with computers around them.

Carl Ocab is no exception.

I already mentioned him in my Technorati train post, but I think he definitely deserves a full review.

This here is a 13-year-old kid who is on a quest to make money online. If I understand correctly, he only started blogging in February 2007, and yet he is, at the time of writing, Technorati's top 8,953 blog. Oh. My. God. Little ol' me has been online since 1997, and has been blogging since 2005, but I'm lightyears away from that. (I suppose there's also the factor that, up until recently, I didn't want my sites and blog to be popular because they're for personal use.)

But, hey, popularity isn't his goal. His goal is (1) to write articles and stuff that can help fellow bloggers, and (2) make money online. Obviously. And, also as obviously, he's doing a fine job at it. And he did it in such a short time.

This begs the question: How the hell did he do that?!

The first thing, probably, is that he's got background. Apparently, his dad is also into making moolah in the net, and has taught him about Google Adwords and SEO and such. Ah, yes. We all need mentors.

The second thing he did right is that he acknowledged that he writes well, and used that to help people. Not to brag, but I know I write well, too. The only difference is --- and I think I mentioned this before --- it was only recently that I decided to write reviews and other not-quite-about-me things. Carl's writing are always very helpful and humorous at the same time. I stumbled on his blog only recently, and I had a hard time stopping myself from reading his whole archive because his articles are so cool to read. (If anybody's asking, I had to stop because my lunchbreak was over.)

Third, he's got design skills. Yes, we all know that we shouldn't judge a book (or a website) by its cover. However, the cover IS a mighty help if it's attractive. Carl uses sleek, smooth, minimalistic designs that are easy on the eyes, and at the same time functional and not at all boring to look at. I mean, just look at that! As of writing, his template uses good ol' black on white Arial font... Red links for variety, and a catchy header for attention, which, most conveniently, has a banner ad right smack on it... But, lookit! The banner doesn't look annoying where it is! He uses gradients sparingly and wisely. The sidebar is filled to the brim with links and ads, and yet it's not cluttered.

This kid is so talented on so many levels, it's almost unfair. But, hey, that's life. Different people are given different gifts so we can help each other. And Carl just proved that you ain't never too young to make use of your talents to make a dent (and a pretty big dent at that) in your sphere of influence.

So yeah. If you want to learn how to make a good website (even if you don't want to make money online or increase your pagerank), head on over to carlocab.com, study his site, and try to apply his techniques in yours. And if you DO want to increase your pagerank, go and review his blog so you can get a backlink.

Who knows, maybe you'll be the next blogger I'll be blogging about. ^_^

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Technorati faving goes a long loooooooong way

When I first read about this, I went "You have GOT to be kidding me."

Most people who follow this journal (or talk to me in real life) know that I've been trying to make money online. During my daily quest to improve my PR and get advertising opportunities, I stumbled upon the brilliant blog called Make Money Online with a 13-year old.

(Yes. A thirteen-year-old. I didn't believe it at first, either.)

And while reading up on his awesome posts (and all the while feeling a bit envious that the kid's a freakin' problogging prodigy), I read his post about getting into Technorati’s Top 100 most favorited blogs. And so here I am, jumping into the bandwagon.

Or rather, the train.

I've been reading over and over that links is crucial to getting web presence, and I've been struggling to get links from other sites. So when I saw this... Hehe. Let's just say you'd laugh at the look on my face.

***Start Copying Here:***

Here are the rules:

1) Write a short introduction paragraph about what how you found the list and include a link to the blog that referred you to the list.

2) COPY the Rules and ENTIRE list below and post it to your blog. To avoid duplicate content and increase the amount of keywords your site can accessible for, go ahead and change the title of the blog. Just don’t change the links of the blog.

3) Take “My New Faves” and move them into the “The Original Faves” list.

4) Add 3 Blogs that you’ve just added to your Technorati Favorites to the “My New Faves” section. Remember to also add the “Fave Me” link next to your new blogs (i.e. http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://www.example.com)

5) Add Everyone on this list to your Technorati Favorites List by clicking on “Fave the Site.” Those who want good kharma will fave you back. If not, you will for sure get the benefits of faves from the bloggers who continue this list after you.

My New Faves:
WebDev101 - Fave the Site
SEO Religion - Fave the Site
Baddieverse - Fave the Site

Originals:
Random Snowflakes - Fave the Site
WMhaven - Fave the Site
Earn money Blogging - Fave the Site
Hardcore strategies to make money online - Fave the Site
If ya Want to Make Money - Fave the Site
India Pr Blog - Fave the Site
Turn one pound into a million - Fave the Site
Make Money Online with some useless info - Fave the Site
High Paying Keywords - Fave the Site
Make Money Online with a 13-year old - Fave the Site
Pond Perspective - Fave the Site
East Coast Life - Fave the Site
Culture Shiok! - Fave the Site
Fruity Oaty - Fave the Site
Michael McKinlay - Fave the Site
Nice4Rice Free Backlinks - Fave the Site
Work at Home, Make Money Online - Fave the Site
Web 2.0, Tech Reviews - Fave the Site
Wireless LAN Security - Fave the Site
Bobs [ReformatThis] - Fave the Site
Everyday Weekender - Fave the Site
Armen's Blog - Fave the Site
Gary Lee - Fave the Site
Dosh Dosh - Fave the Site
Nate Whitehill - Fave the Site
Ms. Danielle - Fave the Site
Jeff Kee - Fave the Site
Scribble on the Wall - Fave the Site
Jimi Morrisons Head - Fave the Site
Jon Lee - Fave the Site
Samanathon - Fave the Site
Eat Drink & Be Merry - Fave the Site
The Man of Silver - Fave the Site
Hannes Johnson - Fave the Site
My Dandelion Patch - Fave the Site
Nathan Drach - Fave the Site
SiteLogic - Fave the Site
Julies Journal - Fave the Site
Stephen Fung - Fave the Site
Ed Lau - Fave the Site
QMusings - Fave the Site

***End Copying Here***

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

iGoogle me

iGoogle the new name of Google's personalized homepage. I've been using it for a few months now because... Well, because I love it! Hehe. Read more here.

Anyway, I've been using themes in iGoogle. I said in my other post that the theme on iG dynamically changes, depending on the time in your location. BUT it's accurate only for people in the States. Now that there's iG for countries outside the States, it's accurate to my time. Yeyyyyyy!!! Now I get to see my kitsune doing other stuff aside from stargazing and sleeping (and sleeping while ghost kitsune visit the tea house)!

Other new stuff in iG:
Gadgetmaker - Word is that there are seven new gadget wizards to play with.

1. A Photo gadget (share a series of photos with others)
2. GoogleGram gadget (allowing you to display a new greeting message to someone for every day for 7 days)
3. Daily Me gadget (which will show what you’re currently doing, as well as quotes, what’s on your mind etc.)
4. Personalized Countdown gadget
5. A Personalized List (you can e.g. publish your own top ten list with this, Google says)
6. YouTube video favorites gadget (pictured above, this gadget will let you create a YouTube channel to share)
7. A “Free Form” gadget (an “all-purpose gadget that lets you meld text and image in any way,” Google says)

My community - Here's how it works:

When you publish gadgets to the directory, they’ll ask for your location and name, and the location data will now be used for the “My Community” section to be more localized for your area. These gadgets will be able to be posted anywhere on the web, Google says, just like the gadgets which are currently available (and Google Desktop
should be able to use these as well).

I have yet to try these gadgets... I'll might post something else (or update this post) when I've tried it. Hehe. Happy experimenting, everyone!

--sources: Google Blogoscoped and the Google Blog

Friday, April 20, 2007

scrutiny: justsayhi.com

JustSayHi.com is a free dating site where you can look for people to get into a relationship with. It's sort of like Friendster, but instead of looking for old (and new) friends, the main intention is to get a date.

JustSayHi.com is the first dating site I ever visited, and I actually liked it.

That sounds so funny coming from me, doesn't it?

I like the site because it achieves what a dating site is supposed to do: get people to join their network. It's is simple and functional, and makes the viewer focus on the content. The graphics are good picks... And, there is enough "white" space to give the eyes rest.

The color combination is one of the most popular combos today: blue, orange and white. But, strangely enough, the site didn't look affiliated to Microsoft (which it isn't, of course). Their logo is effective: simple and can get high mental recall. Navigation is extremely easy, and it'll give the users the feeling that they're going somewhere. I can't say much about the content subjectively, though... I mean, I never really liked dating sites, to be honest.

My verdict? JustSayHi.com got themselves pretty good web designers! Hehe. Nice, clean, smooth designs are always effective, functional... and people will keep coming back. ^_^

Monday, April 09, 2007

your design. millions of cans.

When I first saw the Pepsi can looking like that, I went "Huh? Is it Pepsi's silver anniversary or something?"
But, no, I told myself. It's way past their silver anniversary.

It's waaaaaaaay past their silver anniversary, actually. And, no, they did not decide to make their cans be plain silver. (Although the silver can looks cool in its own way, yeah?)

They're having a Design Our Pepsi Can contest. As the contest name implies, Pepsi is having the something-hundred-million citizens of the United States make their own Pepsi Can designs. The winning design will be used for Pepsi cans nationwide. As their tag line for the contest goes, "Your design. Millions of Cans." The winning designer, by the way, gets $10,000. Awesome, huh?

The not-so-awesome part of this, though, is that contestants have to be residents of the US. Awwww, too bad for me. If you're a US citizen, though, then good for you.

But, if you're not in the States, do not despair! We can still have our fun.

The contest website, is a flash site that, aside from giving us info about rules and voting, lets you design your own Pepsi can. The canvas is there for you to paint on. You can use from the colors on the upper left corner to change your background or decal colors. There are at least 30 (I think) decals to choose from on the bottom part of the tool, and you can resize, rotate and flip them using the options below the color pallette. You can also click on paint to... well... paint. Hehe. (On a side note, the instructions are there on the page. I turned it off so I can see what I was doing.)

Here's a note: the tool is sorta like Photoshop that the decals are treated like layers. You can change them any time you want. BUT you can't change the layer order. If you paint a decal first, it's going to be underneath everything you paste on there. So work on the background images first before pasting in the decals that you want on top.

Another note: you have to drag and and drop the decals onto the canvas, not double-click them. AND if you want to rotate the decal, click on it, and then click-drag the rotate tool, not the object itself. Hehe. I kept trying to rotate it like I would do it in Photoshop. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out how the tool worked.

If you want to see what your design looks like, you can hit "preview design". Another page will load to show you what your Pepsi can's going to look like. You can rotate the can to see it from all angles.

If you're not satisified with your design, you can always hit edit, and you'll be taken back to your canvas.

If you want, you can also download the Pepsi can template and make your own design off-site. And then you can upload your design and preview it and stuff.

If you're from the States, you can save your work on-site. Doing so, however, submits your entry. So make sure you're done with your masterpiece. Oh, and make sure you submit before May 10th!

There's one other cool thing you can do on the site: you can view the entries! Some entries are really cool. It's fun to browse through them. ^________^

Yeyness. So head on over to http://www.designourpepsican.com to enjoy designing and browsing! I know I did.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

google-luuuuuuuuuv

Many people have told me that I should be getting paid to do this.

But I don't really care.

I just wanna spread the love.

Yes, siree, I'm a Google enthusiast. Addict. Fan. Whatever you want to call me. Google rocks, no matter what other people say. And here's why:

GMail
This is how I first got into the G. Of course, a lot of people have been using Google as a search engine, but when I tried Gmail, I fell in love with it. I love it because it loads so friggin' fast, and organizing mail is so friggin' easy because of them labels, and my inbox keeps clean because of conversations (emails in one thread are kept as one entry in your inbox) and archiving (you can store your emails into the archive and just search for them later when you need 'em).

And and and -- here's one of the best parts -- I get to use Google to send my work mail, yahoo mail, and whatever else mail server there is out there! Yep. If you've got Gmail and you don't know about this yet, go and check it out. Click Settings -> Accounts and you'll see something like this:


Except it'll be your email address there. Ahahaha. Of course. Just click Add another email address. Type in your address in the pop-up, and you're all set! You don't have to log into your other email accounts to send one little email. Of course this is super handy when coupled with email forwarding. Set up your other email addresses so that all your emails get forwarded to your gmail. And then set up Gmail (click Settings -> Filters) to put
labels on them.

For example, I've got my work mail to forward stuff to Gmail, and when Gmail gets it, it puts a "work" label on it. And then I can reply to the email using my work address while still in Gmail. Ain't it ever so cool?!

GTalk
Google's chat thingy. It's lightweight and it's super handy. You know what's the best part about GTalk? You don't have to download it. Seriously. Just log in to your Gmail account, and you see Quick Contacts on the left side of the screen. Pick the contact you want to talk to (granted, of course, that their green light is on, meaning they're online), click Chat, and voila! Instant Messenger in an instant!

You can, of course, download GTalk so you can close your Gmail window and still receive IMs and mail notifications.

Whether or not you download GTalk, all your chat sessions are saved in your GMail for future reference. ^_________^

Blogger
OK. Now I know a lot of people are loyal to LiveJournal and/or moving over to Wordpress. To tell you the truth, I've got an LJ/Vox blog, and I've got one in Wordpress, too. But my fave still remains to be Blogger. First of all, I still think that posting is easiest in Blogger. Sure, sure, other people might try to protest about that. But, hey. To each his own.

Also, with Blogger, I get to fully customize the look and feel of my blog. For free! I was a bit disappointed-- oh, wait, scratch that. I was TOTALLY disappointed when I learned that to modify CSS in Wordpress, I had to pay up. Argh. (If I'm wrong, send me an email and help me fix my WP blog.) Here at Blogger, you can do whatever you want with your HTML, and Blogger would have no complaints. Unless, of course, if your HTML isn't structured properly. Hehe.

Another thing is that Blogger helps you choose colors. In Templates -> Fonts and Colors, Blogger generates the colors from your blog, colors that match your blog, and other colors that'll look good, AND you can shuffle the colors within page elements. All you gotta do is click and experiment. And if you do something wrong, you can always revert back to the original settings.


Sometimes, I reshuffle the colors in this tool just to watch 'em move. Just for fun. And then I revert back to the saved settings. Hehe. It really looks so cool, watching them move!

And you get to insert widgets from third parties, too. In some blogsites, you can't modify the HTML, and you can't put foreign widgets and scripts in. Too bad.

Ah, yes. I love Blogger. Ain't it obvious?

Google Reader
I believe I've already blogged about this. But I shall say something again.

Reader is, like, an answer to my prayers because with it, I don't have to regularly check my friends' blogs for updates. Sometimes I spend time checking up on their blogs only to discover that they haven't updated at all. Bummer. Also, sometimes, I check up on their blogs only to discover that I've missed so many entries! That's a bummer, too.

With Reader, I get updated whenever a friend updates his blog (or site) whether or not they're on Google. I put WP, LJ, Multiply and other wites on my reader, actually. Also, Reader isn't limited to blogs. From what I understand, it started out as a feed tracker. If you want, you can get news and stuff in there.

You can label, favorite and share your feeds, too. Aaaaaaand you can post 'em on your Blogger as a widget! Yey! That's what I love about Google. Everything works together so friggin' well.

Google Docs and Spreadsheets
Oh, joy! I SO wish this existed when I was still a student. It would've made my life SO much easier.

With GDocs, you can upload documents and web pages, as well as spreadsheets, so you can access and modify them anywhere, without needing to download them. This is very convenient because with this, you save your flash drive from getting (or spreading) viruses. Each revision is logged, and you can revert back to any version of your document at any time. You can also collaborate with friends, work colleagues and groupmates. And you can also choose to just share the documents, and let other people view it without changing the content. And then, later, you can save them, or publish them online as web pages, or as blog entries!

Google Personalized Homepage
This is the turnpike. This is where everything comes together. If you're going to get ANYTHING from Google, get the personalized homepage.

It has the classic Google search bar, of course. Like Yahoo! Homepage, you get to choose what to put on your Home. You can put your calendar, news, and whatever else. But what's so cool about this is: you get to put non-Google stuff on there, too. Holy crap. Nothing beats that, I tells ya.

For my Home, I put in Gmail (like, duh), Yahoo Mail, Google Reader, my links (which I can also organize using labels), date and time (the clock looks so nice and sleek!), quote for the day (they're either hilarious or inspiring. Luv it!), time converter (a must for someone whose clients and bosses are out of the country), and my Docs. I can collapse my widgets, and I even get to use tabs and rename them! Aside from my Home, I get the "tips, for the days" tab, and my "converters, translators" tab.

One thing I love about the Homepage is that I don't have to log in to Yahoo! (or anything else Google, for that matter) to see my stuff. Gmail is there, so I see new mail. Reader is there, so I don't have to log into Reader to see new stuff in feeds. If you click on the link, the contents "pop up" and you get to read the entry right there in Homepage. (see the lower left quarter of my screenshot below) And, if I click on other Google services, I don't have to log into them again because one Google log in logs you into everything else Google!


One new and very fun thing about the Google Homepage is the themes. For the meantime there are only a few themes available. They're all very amusing, but even if you don't want a cutsie look, there's a theme for that, too. Personally, I was choosing between the beach theme and the tea house theme. I chose the latter. A fun thing about the themes is that it changes dynamically depending on the time in your area. On my screenie above, you can see the nighttime, early morning, afternoon and early evening versions. The dawn version's cute, too. It's just the nighttime one, except the colors are slightly changed, and the snail's replaced with another animal. The "wee hours" version has ghoul kitsunes in them. It's hilarious! The evening version is nice, with fireflies and stuff around the kitsune. The designers' attention to details is so cool!



So...yeah. That's it so far. I'm sure I missed some awesome thing about Google services. When I do remember what those are, be sure I'll blog about it later.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

makin' the web a better place

...or, at least making it look better.

Okay. Before anything else, I would like to declare a disclaimer: I am NOT a self-proclaimed web design guru or anything. And I don't have OCD over this that I'll go into tantrums just because some people like colors that... well... to put it bluntly: colors that hurt my eyes.

But, yeah.

I love web design.

And I like to have the web looking nice.

And... sometimes a day's work really wears me out to the point that I HAVE to design a web page or else I'll go insane.

Okay. Let's get into the actual blog entry.

I was promoted last month (read more here), and that gave way to a new office, a new salary, a new schedule and, most importantly, new responsibilities. To be honest about it, it made my day busy, exciting, and... downright tiring. My bedtime even reverted back to 10 pm as if I was a high school student all over again! I was planning and analyzing and hiring and ARGH sometimes I just want to bang my head on my desk.

Err... NO I did not bang my head on my desk. I liked the shape of my skull as it was, thank you very much. Instead, I designed webpages just for the sake of doing something different. The great thing about this is: it actually served as practice. I mean, making web designs is my job, anyway. It just so happened that I wasn't designing at the moment.

So I revamped my blogs...

And then...

And then I ran out of blogs to update. So I went and offered CSS and HTML help to friends who needed my God-given skills... And then I offered help to friends who weren't really asking for help, but welcomed it anyway...

And now I'm open for requests. If you need help designing or redesigning your blog or website, I can help. I might not be able to work on it immediately, and I may not be able to finish it at once, but I will work on it on bang-my-head-on-my-desk moments.

So yeah. Hit me. And let's make the web a better-looking place.

Friday, February 09, 2007

readings for readers

Waheeheehee. Ain't it fun? Now I don't have to email all a' yus an' stuff. Just check out the readings section on the right side from time to time. ^_____^

By Bloggers For Bloggers

Thursday, February 01, 2007
posted by Mihai Parparita

Reader has always been about sharing your favorite items. One of the more fun things you can do with them is put them on your blog. That way your readers can see what you've been finding interesting, even if you don't have the time to do full posts.

Until now, putting your shared items in your blog required some technical chops, since you needed to copy and paste some code into your template. We'd always wanted to make this easier, so we worked with our friends on the Blogger team. As a result, the entire process now only takes a few clicks for Blogger users*.

All you have to do is click the "Add to Blogger" button on the put a clip on your site page in Reader (found in Settings). Now anytime you share something, your blog's readers will know about it too. It's more fun than a blogroll and always up to date.

* Just to be clear, this only works if you've upgraded to the new version of Blogger. We switched the Reader blog to it a few weeks ago, and it's been working out great (no more waiting for publishing to finish).

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Lipsum

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas augue. Maecenas tempor. Suspendisse a lectus. Pellentesque a dui. Sed eleifend nulla in ipsum. Duis enim. Nullam vitae risus. Donec nibh arcu, feugiat et, egestas a, fermentum quis, nunc. Etiam congue turpis et ligula. Morbi faucibus bibendum velit. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae.

Donec urna est, malesuada in, dignissim sit amet, laoreet id, sem. Vivamus ac dui. Sed pretium tincidunt mi.

Nulla semper.

Curabitur id risus. Morbi accumsan commodo elit. Mauris nisi nisi, viverra eget, nonummy sit amet, lobortis et, risus. Donec ultrices urna sed massa.

• Vestibulum pellentesque. Fusce iaculis. Nulla.
• Curabitur quam dolor, posuere a, consectetuer sed, tristique.
• Suspendisse eros erat, elementum sed.

Donec commodo est eget felis. Nunc velit odio, posuere a, ullamcorper a, commodo vel, velit. Phasellus libero nulla, auctor a, auctor non, convallis ac, libero. Pellentesque velit lacus, posuere in, aliquet nec, elementum nec, nulla. Cras vitae sem. Maecenas risus tellus, feugiat quis, rutrum sit amet, tincidunt vel, ipsum. Etiam mi. Phasellus molestie scelerisque eros. Maecenas tortor.

Praesent vitae urna nec leo sagittis adipiscing.

---------

Yep. Just celebrating the fact that I'm lipsumming again. Ha. I can't believe I missed web design coding this much. ^_____________^

Monday, October 16, 2006

online but never online

So it's my third Monday here at work.

And I'm always online, thanks to our -- whoosh!!!!!! --- 100Mbps connection.

Actually, up until recently, I've been satisfied with a dial-up internet connection at home. I know it's slow compared to DSL, yeah, but I haven't been frustrated with it enough to actually get rid of our dial-up connection in favor of high speed DSL. So, I said, if and when I begin working as a web developer, I shall have access to internet speeds that I have never experienced before, and I'll maximize it by downloading the music, stock photos and whatever else I want as I work. During breaktime, I'd probably blog or something, keeping an updated log of my experiences in this new phase of my life.

Well, here's the funny part. Ironically enough, I haven't actually been using it as much as I had imagined I would. I have yet to try to download music, I have yet to have long YM chats with friends, and... well...

This is actually the first time I'm doing something online that is not actually work. And I only do it because my boss told me to surf for a while so I could rest my fried brain.

So...yeah.

Ain't it interesting, how one can be so excited about getting one thing and then, suddenly, not take advantage of it when one finally received it.

Just a thought from my work-fried brain.

Or maybe it isn't because of work.

Maybe it's because it's Monday.

Thursday, December 30, 2004

Blameless Vanishing

There have been several times when I felt my blood drain from my face. I mean, seriously drain from my head. I'm not saying that just as a descriptive phrase conveying surprise. There were times when I literally felt like I was going to faint, or maybe fall over like comedic anime characters usually do.

One of those times was about two hours ago. I went to one of my numerous webpages to get an image for...some reason I don't have time to write about. But, instead of my webpage appearing on the screen, Yahoo! Geocities greets me.

"Sorry, the webpage you requested was not found."

Ah, yes. The dreaded phrase. But, no, that's not my bodyfault moment yet. To cut a long story short, my web space had been...well... "reclaimed" by Yahoo! That was my eye-widening, fall-off-the-chair moment. At first I didn't believe it. I knew there HAD to be some kind of mistake. But no~, all the images I collected were gone. Actually, if that was it, it would've been fine. What really bites is the fact that there were several -- a LOT -- of stuff I wrote... and they were gone.

Transformed into pointerless nodes floating in cyberspace.

My first impulse once I regained consciousness was shout protests and "I don't believe this"s at the computer screen. Stuff like, "How could Yahoo! do this to me?! There's supposed to be a warning email first, isn't there?!"

Actually, it turns out that there was. I never got it becuase the email address I had registered there was the one I wasn't using anymore. Well, I suppose it served me right for not updating, or at least log on once in a while.

So, for the past two hours, I've looked positively weird, smiling every now and then... I mean, it really IS silly, that whole encounter. Imagine, me totally freaking out just because of a webpage... I suppose my "writings" were quite a loss, add the fact that that website was the one with most hits among all my websites.

Maybe this is a good thing, now that I think about it. Now I have less websites to "worry" about. Not that I really worried about them. The site was reclaimed precisely because I haven't been using it, so it's not that important is it?

Sorta like a lot of things in our lives. Clutter that we have even forgotten that they were there in the first place. As my mom's book says, "If you don't use it, get rid of it."

So, there, I got rid of it.