Return of the Coming Soon page

Aug 1

Remember this?

The Coming Soon email subscription formThe Coming Soon email subscription form

That’s right: this was what was displayed from September 2009 onward as the launch of the new NOVALISTIC was then imminent (save from all those delays/postponements). While the email subscription form was still there in November, this page was even featured on Smashing Magazine!

The site may have already been launched (obviously), but I thought I’d reupload the Coming Soon page for everyone to see. In fact, I’ve reuploaded both versions (I disabled signups sometime in December, and removed the form). You can see them by following either of these links:

Note that the email subscription form doesn’t really work, of course. Why would I want your email address anyway?

This is just a teeny weeny update compared to some more stuff (hint hint!) that I’ll be unveiling later this month. For updates, follow @NOVALISTIC on Twitter and subscribe to the RSS feed!

Project 52 canceled; short-term plans for the new NOVALISTIC

May 30

First off, Project 52 is no more for me. Also, this first part of the post is really just a pingback of what I’ve already said @ WordPress.com. Head over there for the scoop. Sorry, everyone. It looks like one post at any given blog a week (that post has been removed) is still too much for me to deal with.

But don’t let the above announcement get to you. I will continue to blog, just not on a regular basis, and not as often as I’d wanted to. Furthermore, the new NOVALISTIC still isn’t feature-complete; remember, I’ve a few things that I want to implement. You can find the entire announcement of the newly-launched site at this post, but here’s just the list of features to come:

  • More color schemes for various sections of the site
  • A new section altogether at that
  • A Mobile Safari-optimized interface for iPhone and iPod touch users (like myself)
  • More portfolio features such as filtering, tagging and screenshot galleries
  • Inclusion of blog posts in site-wide search
  • Other nifty little interface effects

I haven’t been coding much PHP since Is Justin Bieber Trending?, but that’ll change starting in the second week of July, from which period I’ll begin slowly rolling out the aforementioned features over the months.

As for jobs, sorry I’m still not available for work, but if you need help in anything you’re still free to drop me a line.

And, please, I’ve had multiple job request emails that aren’t really job requests at all; do not check the ‘Yes, this is a job’ checkbox unless it really is one! A simple request for tips or advice is not the same as proposing a paid web project to me, and checking that box unnecessarily does nothing to make your message any more or less important!

In any case, thanks for the continued visits despite my lack of content, everyone. For now, I’ve got tests to study for and stuff to design and code, so see you soon!

CSS Naked Day 2010

Apr 10

Yesterday was CSS Naked Day. I wonder how many other sites were still into that, but I know NOVALISTIC was! (It’s been celebrating since 2008, I think.)

To be frank, I kinda forgot about the event until Christian Heilmann tweeted about it:

"So today is CSS naked day. Does anybody still care about this?" — @codepo8Christian Heilmann's tweet

I didn’t forget about it while developing the new NOVALISTIC though, so if you were browsing the site while it was still CSS Naked Day, I’m sure you saw it in all its black-text-over-white-background glory!

During the event I even noticed some display issues, mostly caused by two things:

  • Inline elements being crunched together
  • JavaScript-injected CSS

Those were fixed in a matter of hours, really. I was busy with some other stuff so I didn’t do much else but bug-fixing. Sorry about it.

Another thing: the effect lasts on my web site from April 8, 2010 at noon to April 10, 2010 at noon. This is to keep with the international spirit of CSS Naked Day:

CSS Naked Day lasts for one international day. Technically speaking, it will be “April 9th” somewhere in the world for 48 hours. This is to ensure that everyone’s website will be publicly nude for the entire world to see at any given time during April 9.

What about you? How many of you celebrated by stripping your sites of all CSS styles too?

Is Justin Bieber trending?

Apr 1

EDIT [4/7]: Updated screenshot just because I felt like doing that today.

EDIT [4/3]: So you thought this was an April Fools prank? Let me just say right here that you’re wrong! Who’s the one to laugh now?! (OK, I kid.)

Is Justin Bieber Trending?Is Justin Bieber Trending?

You all knew it was gonna happen: somebody would waste some leisure time throwing together a microsite that answers one very simple, burning question:

Is Justin Bieber Trending?

Well, I’ve taken the pleasure (of three nights) to do just that. With a pretty apt URL too: http://isjustinbiebertrending.com

As in the disclaimer (‘why is this?’) at the bottom right of the site, here’s why I even bothered:

Gotta say this so nobody comes after me for the wrong reasons: I have nothing against Justin Bieber.

He can sing, make albums and be famous for all I care, but it’s his obviously immature, prepubescent fangirls (and fangayboys) who are polluting our Twitterverse with useless tweets and a useless trending topic (or sometimes even two or three).

This is my response to the thousands of young girls whose lives seem to consist of nothing but Justin Bieber. And a source of entertainment for the people who are wondering if he ever falls off the trending topics. To answer that, yeah, he does… just not always for long…

You can also follow @ijbt on Twitter if you’re so inclined.

NOVALISTIC 4.0 “Sarathos”

Mar 15

Welcome to the new NOVALISTIC 4.0, codenamed “Sarathos”!

NOVALISTIC N LogoNOVALISTIC N Logo

Finally, after going through numerous on/off periods of development spanning over a year but being worth only a few months of actual work, I am officially relaunching my web development & design site!

It’s been over two years since I was about to launch NOVALISTIC 3.0 “Oltanis”, which failed miserably in the end. But that’s over, because now, here is version 4.0, and with it comes a whole new start.

You might have noticed by now that the site started off really small, despite me having taken so long to develop it. Don’t worry! I intended to start small to let everyone have a feel for the brand new site first, before I start to add, or switch on, the following site-wide features:

  • More color schemes for various sections of the site
  • A new section altogether at that
  • A Mobile Safari-optimized interface for iPhone and iPod touch users (like myself)
  • More portfolio features such as filtering, tagging and screenshot galleries
  • Inclusion of blog posts in site-wide search
  • Other nifty little interface effects

And of course, over the months and years I’ll be adding new stuff to my portfolio as I avail myself for client work and such, so that means more to see.

Not only that, but you’ll start to see new posts here at blog.NOVALISTIC as well. Finally, I’d say, after having lain dormant for months. Articles about web development, more detailed case studies than what you’ll see at my portfolio, new tutorials, and more!

Thank you, everyone who’s been offering me moral support all this while as I pulled through the development of the new NOVALISTIC. You guys rock!

Enjoy the new NOVALISTIC!

The biggest post purge ever

Mar 10

The new NOVALISTIC is coming, and as I’ve promised, a huge post purge is coming to the blog! Here I share how I’ll be doing this. 2 comments. Read the complete post »

NOVALISTIC 4.0, Beaming Down March 15, 2010

Mar 4

I’ve finally settled on an exact launch date for the long-awaited new NOVALISTIC: March 15, 2010. Here’s what to expect! No comments. Read the complete post »

NOVALISTIC 4.0, Beaming Down January 2010 (not anymore)

Dec 5

I’ve thought all November about it and decided after such a rough month I cannot launch the new NOVALISTIC this month. Instead, I’ll be launching it on my 18th birthday in January 2010! No comments. Read the complete post »

I’m on Smashing Magazine!

Nov 11

NOVALISTIC’s Coming Soon page has been featured in the post, Designing “Coming Soon” Pages, at Smashing Magazine! No comments. Read the complete post »

New server is new

Nov 2

The FTP issue has been fixed by Holdfire! Now my WordPress installations and plugins can update properly. Thanks guys! No comments. Read the complete post »

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