Mainstream media website? Use a WordPress theme

July 9, 2010 · 4 comments

Update (07/26/10): gov.ph now runs WordPress, but per technogra.ph, it returns a lot of missing pages and database error messages.

Philippines Free Press using a generic WordPress theme

Here’s a thought: news sites should take page out of the Philippines Free Press and use WordPress themes instead.

I’m not entirely serious here, because it’s yet another example of how pathetic Philippine websites are, from the highest office in government to mainstream media.

PFP takes the cake: who takes a site live with a default About page, an Uncategorized category, and blank featured images? Apparently its proud “modifier”, Skaizer.com. I wonder if they even thought of with scalability with running WordPress on a supposedly high-profile, high-traffic site.

However, its theme, Bueno by WooThemes, displays content that is far more readable and well-designed that most news sites I’ve seen, so why not? Using a theme with little to no modification won’t help your brand, but neither will a shoddy, bland, “I’m a new site therefore I must appear as neutral as possible” design.

A basic email marketing guide I didn’t think was necessary

April 26, 2010 · Leave a comment!

There’s something I noticed with the Philippine online marketing industry that’s ticking me off more and more (see, I give it a few strikes before I go on a full-blown rant now): a lot of them know diddly-squat about the basics of sending emails, and commit the following crimes: Continue reading ›

Things that kill blogging & things that inspire it

April 9, 2010 · 4 comments

…the key to understanding a blog is to realize that it’s a broadcast, not a publication. If it stops moving, it dies. If it stops paddling, it sinks.

Why I Blog by Andrew Sullivan

I’ve been meaning to post this, but as usual I kept it saved as a draft. Then I read that quote.

You’ve read the proclamations of why “blogging is dead”, whether it’s because of social media, SEO, spam, hacks. Or because people didn’t have enough invested in it.

I was reluctant from the start. I told someone once that I didn’t like to get into blogging if I were to eventually miss updating it for long periods at a time. Andew Sullivan nailed it.

I also tend to enjoy the act of crafting an entry more than publishing it. HTML, cut, paste, share, ponder, tweak, save draft, preview; rinse, repeat. Sometimes you write to be heard; other times you write to let things out. How many draft posts do you have?

It’s another reason art direction/magazine-style web design is exciting; a whole new layout each article changes the game:

But what. to. write. Wisdump alone sucks the life out of me twice a week. I’d much rather link-blog like Tina Roth Eisenberg, Jason Kottke, or Cory Doctorow than try to bleed out a bunch of paragraphs, which usually happens when I rant. I’m less ranty now.

  • Never let small things bother you.
  • Learn to say no to things you don’t want to do.
  • Cut negative people out of your life.
  • Cut people out of your life who only contact you when they want you to do something for them.

deephair’s comment on Reddit, what are your best lifehacks?

Complaining is silly. Act or forget.

Stefan Sagmeister

But I can also link-dump elsewhere on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr (Plurk, actually), construct a lifestream (another web construct I like), and produce content without spending so much effort on the SEO, spam, hacks.

The last two are the most frustrating; even when you let a site gather dust, it can still get hit by malware and you have to fix it. Makes me even wonder if database-less or hosted publishing systems would be more satisfying.

In any case, you know where how to stalk me.

P.S. Happy CSS Naked Day!

Form Function & Class Mini Web Design Conference on November 14

November 12, 2009 · 3 comments

Update (01/05/10): Slides are up.

ffc-250x250

Year 2, here we go!

The <form> function & class mini web design conference season is back in full swing and the first one is happening on Saturday, November 14, in Rm. 409, Benilde Building, De La Salle –College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) from 1:00-4:00 pm. Brought to you by the Philippine Web Designers Organization and the Association of Information Management of DLS-CSB.

For the uninitiated: Unlike the annual conference, The FFC Mini Web Design Conferences are small, informal gatherings held every other month, where anybody can talk and learn about web design. For free.

Register now!

Why go local: Para Sa Tabi, May Pasok Ba?, and Facebuko

August 21, 2009 · 5 comments

Going local

There’s really not much profit (monetary or otherwise) to be had in making local “copies” of the most popular sites today; you’ll probably just be called unimaginative and lame (read: jologs). But these sites are fun little ideas that stir up the chunks in our cultural halo-halo and remind us that quirky is interesting and copying is okay, as long as we make it our own.

(But first, sites that didn’t make the cut:

  1. akomismo.com
  2. akalamo.com
  3. mysandbox.com
  4. twinoy.com

Go figure.) Now, onto the honorable mentions:

Continue reading ›

Lessons from the 1st Form Function & Class Philippine Web Design Conference

July 31, 2009 · 6 comments

Ia Lucero Introduces PWDO

An unapologetic, uncensored list of lessons learned from the <form> function() & class Philippine Web Design Conference last July 10 at the Asian Institute of Management, Makati—because if we have to figure out how we can improve next time, we might as well start with ourselves.

Continue reading ›

The easy way out

June 19, 2009 · 5 comments

Japan's lifesize Gundam

Someone deleted this comment because it was supposedly irrelevant to the discussion:

Meh. I prefer Japan, it’s got the mothaf*cken lifesize Gundam.

Of course someone who can’t see how Lapu-Lapu, Andres Bonifacio, Jose Rizal, and Jose Abad Santos are worthy of being called heroes of this country would have even more difficulty parsing said sarcasm.

You can’t see how people who sacrificed themselves contributed to the country’s well-being; it’s easier to just accuse them of being sensationalist, petty, and disruptive. You can’t see how the Philippines can crawl out of this deep hole of poverty, corruption, and illiteracy; it’s easier to just run off to some some country where the climate, economy, and telenovelas are better.

But if it were me giving up and running off, I’d pick Japan. It’s got the mothaf*cken lifesize Gundam.

Of course, it’s just you.

Happy birthday, Jose Protacio Mercado Rizal Alonzo y Realonda. Here’s to not dying in vain.

Seriously, what kind of person worships a country because they’ve got awesome telenovelas? What kind of person closes his comment form and takes back his words after repeatedly defending them just because he can’t stand the heat.

Seriously, I want to go see that Gundam.

Today in the Philippine Twittersphere: fighting the Book Blockade

May 14, 2009 · 6 comments

Update (05/25/09): The Philippine Star reports that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has lifted the book tax imposed by the Department of Finance / Bureau of Customs. Also, a postscript from Robin Hemley, the first to write about the whole thing.

The Great Book Blockade of 2009 has been buzzing for a few weeks now, but not as loudly as one would have wanted. It’s about the taxation of books and the pathetic notion by Philippine customs that books are not educational. It seems a lot of things are more newsworthy than this.

Like how American Idol finalist David Archuleta appeared on Philippine noontime show Eat Bulaga and suddenly Pinoy twitterers were gushing about him so much that it hit Twitter’s most popular keywords. Unfortunately Filipinos seem to care more about singing sensations than this pressing issue (even Neil Gaiman tweeted about it before most), but some of us realized we could piggyback on the existing buzz. (To be sure, we posted on Plurk too.)

Continue reading ›

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