Rough Groove

Ongoing redesign of salagubang.net

I’m redesigning all the pages of salagubang.net, my dedicated beetle site that was launched around five years ago. Its quite daunting and bloody especially that this is my oldest website done in Frontpage. Now, I’m updating every page to cascading style sheets (CSS) from tables to make it more manageable and future redesigns would not be so difficult and time consuming. Now with Dreamweaver, updating it is quite easy.

Other than the redesign, I’m also overhauling all images, 1,126 all in all, to make it better visually as well as placing watermarks. The thumbnail was also enlarged to 200px from the original 100px.

As of now, I’m still not halfway into the revamp but I am just doing it slowly but surely. There will still be a lot of dead links but these will all be ironed out once done.

urbanMANILA

urbanMANILA is the website that I developed, gratis et amore, for the projects made during the workshop conducted by World Press Photo 05 awardee Peter Bialobrzesky, a program of the Goethe Institut, Manila. This was held from 31 January - 26 February 08 at the Silverlens Gallery. From the original 10 participants, eight of us finished the month long collaboration.

The workshop was free. In return, we accompanied and assisted Peter, one on one, for his current work. The learnings and new insights gained ranging from technique, approach to photography as an art, business and as a career were really priceless. I have always wanted to do urban photography and Peter’s inputs really is spot on.

I never regretted joining the workshop. Now, I can just smile and look back when I almost didn’t make it. When I first learned about it from Dennis Rito early January, it was already too late as the selection was concluded December. But when I saw that only 8 out of 10 slots were filled, I immediately contacted Paula Guevarra of Goethe Institut but was told that it was already too late. Seeing that this will be important for me, I sent an email to Jimmy Domingo of ACFJ as well as to Peter. They discussed it and luckily, the selection was reopened just a few days before the start of the workshop. And from there, it was history. It pays to be persistent!

The website is just a simple HTML and CSS based project. I was tempted to do it in flash or integrate flash elements in it but decided not to. The design is uncluttered and I opted for a black background so that the photos will look better. I also tried out a new design where the content is organized in such a way that it floats against the dark backdrop. I did not follow a top-left placement of the site name but instead, positioned it at level with the photo. The main content only holds the site name as well as the images. As for the footer, I utilized this area to hold the thumbnails, navigation and other information. One of the photographers, Tammy David requested not to include her images while I’m still awaiting the text for the About page.

The entire project was done in one sitting. Overnight.

Withdrawing Paypal funds through a Philippine bank now possible

Just read my gmail and good news! Filipinos who have Paypal can now withdraw funds through a Philippine bank! The link above explains the steps involved. There are also no charges for withdrawals above P7,000.

Adding your Philippine bank is a breeze. Just have your bank code and bank account number ready. As mine is Metrobank, the bank code is 026002846.

Now, this is really a good thing. Except that the image they used of a five peso bill is just obsolete

Surfacing redesign and Ateneo exhibit

After procrastinating for a long while, I have finally redesigned the main page of Surfacing. Now this is better than before.

This photo project will also be exhibited at the Ateneo Law School in Rockwell Makati from 21 - 25 January 08.

Sinulog 08’s new website

I was pleasantly surprised when I checked the Sinulog Foundation’s website and found a new and hip look compared to last year where it was a pastiche of table based blocks. Now, its CSS based, clean, well laid out and its even in Wordpress done in a CMS like style. I would say, however, that the layout is nothing original as I have found similar sites in the web where one can find templates. But I like the design of this one, though. Well thought out colors and good use of white space.

The site is full of information about this annual festival from history, about the devotion, highlights and even includes the procession as well as street dancing routes. For tourist information about Cebu City, one is directed to the local government’s website that is clearly lacking in imagination and needs a major facelift.

The site was done by 18 year old freelance webdesigner McBilly Wilford Sy, who calls himself The Handsome Guy Behind the Monitor, and at the same time takes pain on explaining how he got that rather awkward name.

As for the Sinulog, it’s another opportunity for photographers. Unfortunately, being a photographer myself, I am concerned that the Sinulog Foundation still sponsors exploitative photo and video contests that, by reading their terms and conditions make copyright proponents cringe in horror. The guidelines are posted for photographers and videographers. Ironically, they are more fearful of violating copyright when it comes to the use of songs in the short film contest but doesn’t mind violating the photographers’ as well as videographers’ intellectual property rights.

Such a great festival but such a great venue for IPR violations. Like much of the photo contests here in the country, its nothing but a stock photo/video gathering opportunity for the foundation.

NOTE: If you are concerned about this but still want to get good access, thus good photos of the festival, you can always pay for the registration and not submit to the contest at all.

There is an ongoing effort to educate by and for photographers about the issue of IPR. You can visit this site for more information: IPR-PHOTO.