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Matt is Coming to Town

WordCamp Philippines

WordCamp Philippines 2008 is coming! And I have classes that day! It was really a tough decision to make, since I could have quizzes on the 6th of September 2008, which is a Saturday. I really can’t blame the Mindanao Bloggers who organized the event for the schedule. Besides, I really wanted to thank them for having set the event up. But, since Lexie told me, the hell I care, Matt Mullenweg is coming!

I first heard about this from Shari. She was also planning a meet-up for Web Standards Philippines (a group we set up that has been a little bit neglected for some time because of school), and to finally meet me and Lexie. I do hope WSPh members would participate in this event as well, so as to talk about things, like how we could finally start the group formally. And, most importantly, how we could impart Web standards ideology and advocacy among other bloggers.

So, yeah. I’ve just registered and this would serve as my fee for the event. In line with this, I present to you the sponsors of the event:

Matt, will you sign my excuse letter? 😀

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So much work, so little time

One word: über-busy.

I’ve just realized having so many dreams and interests could really stress a person out—well, at least for me. Well, after two weeks of unannounced hiatus, I could finally tell you some news.

  1. I’ve got the Head position in the Web & Technical Committee of the Engineering Student Council. Wish me good luck on this, guys. It’s so much work I haven’t imagined. I’ve only applied for the Assistant Head position, but after two chosen candidates [for the Head] declined, they picked me. Many projects to come. 🙂
  2. I’ve got accepted to work on XHTMLized. Current project: none. I’ve got to finish ESC work first. 😀
  3. My Princess got a blog! And, I write here, too. Please read: Mixed to Perfection. Thank you! Shoutout: I love you, Princess!
  4. My interest in spreading Web standards could possibly be official. Though up to now it still isn’t, I’ve already told Molly that I’m interested in joining the International Liason Group of The Web Standards Project. I hope other Filipinos come and join. This would be a great opportunity for everyone who’s into standards. 🙂

I know I am forgetting something. Haha! It would just have to be on the next entry. I have to start making my project proposals and the projects themselves. Until next time!

Raindrops on my car window. North Luzon Expressway, 6 May 2006. Oh yes! I remember: I’ve already gone out swimming with the Tan Clan (my mother’s side of the family). I’ve got only a handful of photos because it was so much fun being in water after so many days of extreme heat exhaustion. Ironically, it rained so heavy the afternoon we were coming home from the province. *sweatdrop*

BTW, I’ve finished my upcoming layout about a week ago. It’s the content that it is lacking—about eight user pages are still unfinished, but the WordPress layout is done. I don’t want to activate it just yet because I think I have the tendency not to continue its development if I implement the design so early. Well, I may ask you though: “Finish it first!” or “I want the new design now!”? 😛

Back to work, now. One by one by one by one … 🙂

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On Freelancing

Everyone has to start somewhere, right? I know I started markup programming since I was 14 years old. Now, I think I have the skills and knowledge to make money from it. Well, actually, I knew months back that I could start making money with my work but I really do not know where to start. One major thing that stopped me was my lack of skills in image manipulation and design — I just do my XHTML really good. And since I thought possible customers were more into design than markup, I stopped a while until I have the skills — the skills that I still do not have that much even right now.

Then I have encountered XHTMLized. There I saw an opportunity that I could just make the XHTML out of the customers’ designs that they can’t turn into beautiful markup. I have done this for a volunteer work with TomWeb on the UST Nursing website and with my friends’ blogs, and now I know I could do this for a fee.

XHTMLized starts their service at $149 — that is PhP7600 on the average! Wow! I can not make that money even with my 4 months’ allowance! Now I am definitely starting my career!

Well, I still won’t stop volunteer work for my school [TomWeb] and for my college [ESC WebTeam] and for my close friends, but for other people that need me: I am going to think about how much it would cost first. 🙂

I know I’ve done free service a lot in the past few years but please consider that I am in dire need of finances right now. And, if I am not going to start making this as a career, I may not be able to start making this as one in the future. I need support for this from you [my friends and readers], maybe you could refer me to anyone who wants to build a business out of a website [those are usually the ones willing to pay for good design and markup] or someone who has just a lot of money and wants a good XHTML+CSS design.

Here are my specifications about my work that may be of interest to those who are thinking of availing my services:

  • I use XHTML 1.0 Strict, unless the design restricts me to do so then I’d use the Transitional DTD.
  • I use XHTML purely for content, using CSS for design.
  • I would accept designs in almost any image format [JPEG, GIF, PNG, preferably PSD for Adobe Photoshop].
  • I would also accept designs in HTML or XHTML that the owner wants to be cleaned up for better Search Engine Optimization and accessibility [for text-only browsers and screen readers].
  • I would make the XHTML look similar [there is no same in rendering between different browsers] in major browsers — Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Mozilla Suite, Netscape Browser; and if possible, Camino and Safari.

I do not intend to compete with those people at XHTMLized. I just want to start my career. Besides, I’ve linked them twice already — my thank-you’s for giving me the idea.

Here are my details if ever you wanted to contact me privately; or just post a comment below if you don’t mind telling it in public.

Thank you!
— Aja Lorenzo Lapus, freelance programmer.