Chibilicious » My Work

HTML 5 Please

Chedie — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:20:43 +0000

For all web design professionals, here is an awesome site, which helps you look up HTML5, CSS3, etc features. This indicates when and how to use them and if there will be any fallbacks. A great reference guide during web production to avoid those debugging headaches across browsers.

Google’s Update to Top Search Queries data

Chedie — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:55:16 +0000

Google has changed part of their algorithms to minimize number of results within search engine results page (SERP).

An example
Let’s say Nick searched for [bacon] and URLs from your site appeared in positions 3, 6, and 12. Jane also searched for [bacon] and URLs from your site appeared in positions 5 and 9. Previously, we would have averaged all these positions together and shown an Average Position of 7. Going forward, we’ll only average the highest position your site appeared in for each search (3 for Nick’s search and 5 for Jane’s search), for an Average Position of 4.

More information about updated SERP results can be found here.

My Design Gallery Resources

Chedie — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:41 +0000

Being a web designer in profession, I’m bound to always be on a lookout for web trends and inspiration. Not for work reasons per se but for my own creative development.

I’m sure many web designers will understand when I say too much visual input can be so stimulating or at times too common, that we end up with nothing. It is hard to describe this kind of dilemma as our resources abound to millions of websites out there.

With this predicament, I’ve recently deleted some design feeds to not be overwhelmed. Below are the galleries I often go to for project inspiration.

There are two (2) things I look for in a design gallery:

1) Not too much background graphics. Minimalist design is preferred. We surely don’t need background graphics compete with thumbnails.

2) Appropriate web thumbnails size. We use the web to find things fast so being able to view a number of websites by few scroll-downs is a plus.

I hope these help you on your creative endeavours.

SOPA / PIPA messages

Chedie — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:51:29 +0000

At work today, I was tasked to install WordPress on Client’s server. Instead, I found the WordPress site (both .com and .org) in black mode and there was no way I could access the usual download page for the framework’s installation guide. Good I found an old installation zip file from my local drive.

It was when we found out many of popular websites joined in the protest against the U.S. Congress’ SOPA / PIPA bills. These are still in progress but its implications are huge. Explanation can be read from this email I got from my host, Site5.com.

From Site5 Management

Greetings Site5 Customers!

The U.S. Congress is currently considering two bills — one in the House of Representatives called SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and another in the Senate called PIPA (Protect IP Act). These bills both attempt to use similar methods to further criminalize and police intellectual property infringement. Although protecting intellectual property is important, these bills would use heavy-handed tactics that would censor and splinter the Internet.

SOPA and PIPA would grant the U.S. government the ability to block almost any website on the Internet if the site is perceived to be an “infringing site.” Search engines would be required to remove the site from their search listings, payment processors and advertisement networks would be forbidden from doing business with the site, and ISPs could be forced to block access to the site for Americans. The bill provides little detail about what would constitute an infringing site, which makes the potential for abuse far greater. We have already seen how these kind of systems can be abused. In 2010, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) mistakenly seized a domain name belonging to a music blog and labeled it as a “rogue site” — the domain name was not returned until a year later (source: http://nyti.ms/uF73mZ). If you would like to see a video explanation of how the bill works and its dangers, please go here: http://vimeo.com/31100268

Site5 has publicly declared our opposition to both bills, and we encourage you to do the same. Contact your representatives in Congress to let your opposition to these bills be known! To locate the contact information for your representatives, visit one of the following websites:

http://www.contactingthecongress.org

http://www.grassroutes.us/sopa

If you’re located outside the United States, you can let your voice be heard as well by sending your thoughts via this website:

http://americancensorship.org

Another way to get involved in the fight against SOPA and PIPA is to join in on the blackouts. Many well-known websites such as Wikipedia, Google, and Reddit are demonstrating their opposition, and you can too. Site5 has sponsored a WordPress plugin for participating in blackouts, and it features an easy setup and configuration options within the WordPress admin area:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sopa-blackout-plugin/

We feel very strongly that the future of the Internet is at stake, and we urge everyone to get involved!

Thanks,
The Site5 Management Team

I do not live in US but I symphatize to what is happening. Imagine if this pushes through… the information, culture, communication, commerce and social interaction, which has given the Internet its edge to converge every knowledge and humanity will be put on a halt. I cannot imagine loosing my freedom on the Internet. The meaning of “democracy” will be lost.

What are your thoughts of this?

Goodbye to DSLRs?

Chedie — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:42:26 +0000

I don’t own a DSLR but I have a lot of friends who does. I get to observe how they handle their gadgets with care, see their drive to upgrade and invest on lenses, and feed on their hunger to take shot after shot of trials to get that one perfect picture. In a way, I get to know (and borrow their cameras to experience the DSLR creativity) how it is like to invest for that picture-perfect moment. Although, I never had the urge to purchase one myself. I am contented with my digital camera. Fits in any of my purse so I can bring it everyday and anywhere. With an additional android phone, I’m content with my multimedia needs for image capturing.

I stumbled on this link in Facebook and got into those technological humdrums on why technology has to evolve so fast it creates frustration among many of us. We invest so much on one gadget only to have it replaced after a few years. To most it may not be an issue although that is unlikely. Even if you are not a professional photographer, you are aware of how nostalgic and momentous a beautiful, crisp image can be. So a common man will invest likely invest in those too.

Reading the article, and pardon my lack of DSLR knowledge to comprehend most of the technical jargon, what I could deduce is 3rd generation cameras will lose their necessity for a bulky exterior. This will be so because the need for many DSLR parts will be less needed, resulting to a thinner and more mobile gadget.

Did I get that right?

If anyone could put into better context what is indicated in the said article, please do enlighten us less DSLR knowledgeable ones. XD

The US Says Goodbye to IE6

Chedie — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:52:19 +0000

This is the best status of the day :D

URL: http://windowsteamblog.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2012/01/03/the-us-says-goodbye-to-ie6.aspx

Ready for information

Chedie — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:52 +0000

There’s another way of saying this. We, at times, are in ‘denial’. XD

The World is a Teacher

Chedie — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:05:25 +0000

For everything that happens, it is the world teaching us something. Let us observe, listen and learn.