Quarter-lifer meets Mid-lifer
It’s been a while since an actual human being entrusted her blog design to me. Truth be told, the last time a stranger contacted me to redesign her Blogger template was two years ago, back in May 2005 when tables were the in-thing; CSS was alien; and the blogosphere, simpler. Overwhelmingly enough, that girl, Maan, still has that froggy layout on. And I often wonder why. :P Hehe.
Since then, however, it’s either I became too busy with other things that I had no choice but to turn down requests for redesign, or, I simply became too self-conscious about my craft that I preferred to just have my mess on my own domains for my own enjoyment or disgust. Hehe.
And then she came along, and after a few months of knowing her through her blog, a dinner date and coffee at Cravings, and some texts and emails here and there, I knew that I just couldn’t turn down her request. And what an honor it was to tweak the online journal of a renown journalist and blogger, not to mention a very kind-hearted 40something such as her.
And what more of an honor (horror??!) to be called the “wisest 20something I know” by The Cathy Babao herself. (Wow, the pressure! LOL.) Seeing my link on her blogroll, lined up with highly respectable people who blog about life, careers, politics, charity work, family, and faith, (you get the drift), brings this sudden weight of pressure on me. I mean, imagine Kuya Bojie of Batibot singing, “alin, alin, alin ang naiba..” and everyone’s finger would point at my link. Get the picture?? Que horror!
Ohwells, at least the disclaimer is right there on the link text itself — “20something” being the operative word. 20somethings are still somehow entitled to be stupid and immature at times anyway, right? :P
Creating the design was a breeze, I actually had fun playing with Photoshop again. But the hardcoding part was more difficult than I thought. I originally made this really complicated layout using tables, hoping that I could make it work with the new Blogger set-up, but after hours of trying, I had to accept the grim reality that I’m not ready for complex CSS and table-less coding just yet. So I ended up just modifying an existing Blogger template and incorporating with it the header that I made. All things considered, I was kindof satisfied na rin with how things turned out.
So hey, check it out. I’m no Joni Ang or Liz Buenaflor or Mae Paulino. But well, I can always try. LOL. At the very least, I can help out modify Blogger layouts and make blog headers, if you’re sick of the usual Blogger template choices. Nope, no Wordpress themes and table-less stuff for me yet. I have a lot to learn.
In the end, it was a win-win case for me. I got a breather from all the SEO and writing I have to do, but more importantly, getting to know a new friend, getting a glimpse of mid-life through her, and being inspired, was the icing on the cake. It was lovely meeting you, Miss Cathy, and let me just say.. the feeling is mutual as I see you to be one of the wisest women I know online and offline as well. :)
Joni said,
July 25, 2007 @ 3:44 pm
Wah, bakit ako nanjan? lol!
Oi gurl, ang galing mo, haha! Meron ka pang kadramahan sa YM chats naten, ang dali-dali lng nmn pala para sa ‘yo eh. lol. Sayang di natuloy “slumber party” kagabi. :(
Oist ung design company naten ha. Haha. Someday. ;)
riz said,
July 25, 2007 @ 3:47 pm
LOL. Design company ba? Sure, basta ba ikaw na bahala sa coding. Haha. Shucks. Give up na ko sa CSS pramis. Magbblog na lang ako. Haha.
liz said,
July 25, 2007 @ 4:58 pm
abah the riz! i love the green! haha ako rin tamad paglaruan ang css…kapag yumaman kayo sa company nyong yan, wag nyo kong kalimutan ah! heh..
Mae said,
July 25, 2007 @ 8:58 pm
waa bakit din anjan din ako dapat stop na kay Liz hehe madali lang CSS kayang kaya mo yan! :D
noemi Dado said,
July 25, 2007 @ 10:07 pm
I love the design riz. It’s as if you’ve been doing it for ages. Before I was a blogger, I was a web designer (since 1996)…would you believe? I was crazy over tableless layouts way back in 2003. My first design was my webhosting business. Now I am so lazy. I hire the services of Gail . hehe. I prefer to blog now. Oh yes, and Cathy is a dear friend. I wish I could have done it for her but I can’t even design for myself now.
Cathy said,
July 25, 2007 @ 11:43 pm
Awwww Riz. Your comments are so sweet. So, we now have a mutual admiration club! Thank you for revamping my site dear :) You are really such a talented young lady! Looking forward to seeing you in two weeks. God bless!
Jane said,
July 26, 2007 @ 12:04 am
Riz, congratulations on the wonderful makeover you did on Cathy’s blog. For a second there, I thought I had clicked on the wrong link. Then realized she had a totally new, great theme.
I now have to move out of a free wordpress site to one of my own so that I have freedom to do some changes too. Maybe I will look you up then….:-)
jayvee f. said,
July 26, 2007 @ 1:28 am
wow ang galing mo!! :D
Michael said,
July 26, 2007 @ 8:55 am
Nice. Reminds me of Lisa of ewebscapes but for blogspot. :)
riz said,
July 26, 2007 @ 9:24 am
LOL. Umayos ka nga! Di ba kasama ka sa company?? :P
riz said,
July 26, 2007 @ 9:25 am
Baket anjan?? Mga imbento kayo! Deny deny pa e. :P
riz said,
July 26, 2007 @ 9:27 am
I didn’t know that there’s css back in 2003. Haha. I was a blogger already at that time. But back then, everything was hard-coded, at least that’s what I knew. Thanks, Miss Noemi. I’d sure love to see you design again. ;)
riz said,
July 26, 2007 @ 9:28 am
Yup, two weeks it is. :) It’s been my pleasure. :)
riz said,
July 26, 2007 @ 9:29 am
Thanks for dropping by po. Wow, you liked it? Thanks :) I’m glad. You know where to find me. :)
riz said,
July 26, 2007 @ 9:31 am
Er, NOT SO, jayvs, NOT SO. :P
broks said,
July 26, 2007 @ 6:43 pm
napadaan lang.
cool ng site mo a…
riz said,
July 27, 2007 @ 9:17 am
Lisa Sabin? Wow ha. I wish!! That’s really flattering, but my designs are nothing compared to her works! Sooo far from it.
seo training said,
July 29, 2007 @ 12:58 pm
lisa sabin is probably one of the best designers i have come across
Tj Cafuir said,
July 30, 2007 @ 3:29 pm
Rhiz, I will give you all my Mcsaver and TokyoTokyo Masarap Yen coupons if you’ll just tweak Half the World Away…
sarj said,
July 31, 2007 @ 4:27 am
wahh… galing naman. :D pagawa?:P ako tamad sa lahat.haha. :)) whenever i get the time, all i’d rather do is sleep.haha.
riz said,
July 31, 2007 @ 7:19 am
Hoy Broks! Welkam back to da blagworld!
riz said,
July 31, 2007 @ 7:22 am
Uhuh. So this is how buyblogcomments work huh. :P
riz said,
July 31, 2007 @ 7:26 am
Mcsaver and TokyoTokyo coupons??!!! That’s all you can offer Tristan??!! You can do better than that DUUDE. Haha.
Badap said,
July 31, 2007 @ 2:47 pm
Hi Riz! I happen to read Ms. Cathy’s articles in the Inquirer. Through this post, I was able to know her blog and contact her din. =)
Yung blog ko, gusto mo bang i-revamp? Hehe..
Fritz said,
August 2, 2007 @ 1:33 pm
You did a great job with that site, Riz, congratulations! You should pursue that company thing, I tell you. Also, I could totally relate with what you wrote about CSS. Dinugo ilong ko sa pag-intindi. Blogger template nga lang dati muntik ako ma-comatose.
riz said,
August 2, 2007 @ 3:41 pm
Huuuy ate Dap!! Small world huh. She tells me about her column sa inquirer but I nver got around to really reading it. Anyway, sige ba, revamp? Hehe. Basta ba invited ako sa kasal mo eh. ;)
riz said,
August 2, 2007 @ 3:42 pm
But you did an awesome job with your site!! Kmusta naman yun, dinugo ka sa CSS? Ibang klase nga site mo eh. Hehe. Thanks Fritz. I have a lot to improve, but its really encouraging to hear comments like the one you made. Salamas :)
Fritz said,
August 3, 2007 @ 11:27 am
Di masyado halata pero yes, dinugo ako ng ilang cc din, hehehe. First time ko kumalikot ng php. I think I might have made irreparable damage if it weren’t for the theme-maker guy’s bug-observation email. I meant eery word I said about your talent and pursuing the site design or grafx design company you and your friends are planning to put up.
Badap said,
August 4, 2007 @ 12:13 pm
hehe… kasal? konting hintay na lang at medyo malapit na ;)
Guitarchic Dot Net » Year 2007, Beautiful Indeed said,
January 1, 2008 @ 10:54 pm
[...] Quarter-Lifer Meets Mid-Lifer. And what more of an honor (horror??!) to be called the “wisest 20something I know” by The Cathy Babao herself. (Wow, the pressure! LOL.) Seeing my link on her blogroll, lined up with highly respectable people who blog about life, careers, politics, charity work, family, and faith, (you get the drift), brings this sudden weight of pressure on me. I mean, imagine Kuya Bojie of Batibot singing, “alin, alin, alin ang naiba..” and everyone’s finger would point at my link. Get the picture?? Que horror! [...]