Hey geeks!
Finally, the new template is up! The last major overhaul for my template was roughly 3-4 years ago before responsive design went mainstream and before HTML5 goodies were widely implemented. This is a fresh, new take for the blog.
For the long-time readers who have stuck with me since 2006, you will know that ABL is primarily a tech site, with some personal notes here and there. Today it has “graduated” into a chronicle of the other things that I am passionate about (yes, a near-decade can change a person) and if it’s one thing thing I learned from blogging, your readers grow with you. I’ve re-categorized everything into (1) the general geekery that comprises 80% of my site, (2) my underwater hobby of SCUBA Diving and photography, (3) press-related articles and everything else that falls under the sun — (4) digressions.
The logo is more compact. I did away with the cartoon bugs and went for the emblem as I’ve learned from being featured in Erick’s games that for branding purposes, an emblem-like logo would work better for collaterals. So, this:
This is an example of a featured post that forces focus on content — especially images — with no sidebars. The photos also have the option to bleed out of the designated column to act as highlights or separators for different sections of a single article.
There are still a few things that need to be sorted out — especially with the categories (close to 2,000 posts) and deploying a visual means to tell whether a post is PR-influenced (such as posting about a product because I was invited to an event or reviewing a gadget that was lent to me). I have no qualms about PR-influenced post but having to put out a disclaimer every single time I post about a phone that was lent to me isn’t very efficient.
Last but definitely not the least, I’d like to give a huge shout out to James Chua and Jed Revita of Pixelkit for the design. They’re also my gaming buddies over at OMGeek. I am a regular guest on their popular podcast about video games.
Promise! I’ll be posting more regularly now that the template is done. As a side note, a few days before the template went live, I became a victim of a WordPress hacking incident which bogged down the site for a couple of days. Not only was the site wonky but I got emails from other webmasters telling me that I had PHP pages within the site that did some secret link building thing.
For those who’ve stuck with me for almost a decade (and even more if you were with me since the MPH Magazine days), thank you!
Now onward! To the journey!
