Finally, a new blog theme!

26 March 2012     •     Comments Off on Finally, a new blog theme!
Tech Things

I was planning to launch this new theme last February 14, but life (and work) happened. In case you’re wondering, I haven’t turned sappy and decided February 14 was such a romantic day it deserved a blog theme launch. Valentine’s Day happened to be the day I bought the Kutitots.Com domain, and saved myself from living with a totally disgusting domain such as pataynadaga.com (can you believe I actually considered that for a blog name? Gah, I surprise myself sometimes).

So what brought about the new theme? Nothing much. The old one was just really — well, old. I grew tired of it. Unfortunately, the web designer side of me trumped the blogger side — I just couldn’t bring myself to blog when I thought my layout was already fugly.

Does that mean I’ll be blogging more? Well, maybe. It took me around two months of almost-regular blogging on the recently-revamped Pinoy Dog-Lover before I got distracted with other things again (ie. work). I guess we’ll just have to wait and see 🙂

Got a few kinks to polish in this new theme. I’ve also kept the design as simple as possible, but hopefully it’ll take a while before I get tired of it again.

2008 Kutitots redesign

21 July 2008     •     2 Comments
Tech Things

I make sure to redesign this blog at least once a year. I try as much as possible to release the new design on the 14th of February, Valentine’s Day and my blog’s anniversary. It usually depends on how busy I am at work, and this year’s design launch is worst ever: I’m more than five months delayed 😛

But… Here it is. The 10th redesign of Kutitots.Com since 2003. I’m frankly not very pleased with it. Not trying to be modest, but really, there’s nothing special about it. I was just getting too tired of the ads cluttered around my blog. I still care about monetizing Kutitots, but no longer at the expense of my design.

I’m a part-time pro-blogger, but I will always be a full-time web designer. Read more

How about a sneak peak?

19 May 2008     •     2 Comments
Family Stuff Tech Things

Sometimes, when things aren’t really done yet but already nearing completion, I can’t help but give a sneak peak. Yes, I’m excited (probably a bit too excited), but you can’t blame me. For somebody living in a one-room flat, this is a great improvement.

Everything is still a bit of a mess (we’ve had desks and cabinets customized, these won’t be done until the middle of the week), but the kitchen is more or less complete. Take a look!

Although it looks like just one house on the outside, Dad had the place renovated so Marc and I will have a “mini house” within a house of our own (separate kitchen, laundry, office, living room, bedroom). Anyway, more photos coming soon! For now, you might want to check out another sneak preview… A preview of Kutitots’ upcoming new design. Read more

Our Valentine’s dinner date at Leona’s Art Restaurant and a foiled Kutitots design launch

14 February 2008     •     5 Comments
Daily Dose Tech Things

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Yesterday marked my blog’s fifth year in existence. I try to make it a point to redesign my theme every time my blog turns a year older, but as usual, I wasn’t able to make my planned release date. Launching a redesign later than planned is becoming a habit already, I might as well accept the fact that I’ll probably never finish a new Kutitots design every 13th of February. So yup, you can expect a new design soon… Really soon! Besides, I’m really getting tired of seeing this mess (the ads are just all over the place)—it’s about time for a new look.

I might be getting a habit out of delaying my blog’s redesign launch date, but one thing’s changed this year. Marc and I broke our stingy and lazy tradition and actually ate dinner at a restaurant on heart’s day. Traffic is usually awful on Valentine’s—lots of couples heading out for a romantic celebration—and that’s something that I could never tolerate. I was never a romantic (nor will I ever be), and braving traffic for the sake of romance is totally not my cup of tea. So what’s different this year? Nothing really, just the fact that the restaurant we went to was just a walking distance from our home, had great food and ambience any artist would really appreciate. Read more

Celebrating four years of Kutitots and blogging

19 February 2007     •     10 Comments
Tech Things

Yep, you’re now looking at the ninth redesign made in four years of Kutitots existence.

The nine designs of Kutitots from 2004 to present:





I was just marveling at Marc this morning about how long we’ve been together (we’ve endured each other for six years already, and we still have a whole lifetime to spend hehe). It made me realize that I’ve been a slacker working at home for four years already. Time really does passes by fast when you’re having fun.

So why am I going sentimental over this blog? Well, this post of Jayvee’s made me think. Really think. I remember telling him in Yahoo Messenger about how and why I started Kutitots sometime before my wedding. Jayvee asked me why I never blogged it, he thought it was quite an interesting story to tell. Simple. I wasn’t ready.

But now I am. I’ll tell you the story behind this whole thing you’re looking at this moment.

Through some interviews, you probably know by now that I’ve been doing design since high school and freelance work since college. But very few know that I’ve worked as a call center agent right after my last year in college. Although my parents raised me with an entrepreneurial spirit, I was scared of failing. I didn’t want to risk having no future and losing money in business.

Five months after my employment as a tech support agent, my family encountered one of our worst moments. My sister’s schizophrenia was going out of hand (her psychiatrist at that time was totally useless)—my office colleagues were used to seeing me go to work with bruises and scratches all over (the struggles we had with my sister were unbelievable, we even thought she was possessed or something). But the worst was having two successive deaths in the family: two of the people I loved the most passed away.

My favorite grandma passed away a few days before my birthday. Obviously, I was heart-broken. Then it was made worse by my favorite uncle’s (he’s also my godfather) demise not more than a month after my grandma died. And when the worse things happen to you (and happen simultaneously), you cannot help but ponder about the meaning of your life. Read more

It’s time for a redesign

16 February 2007     •     3 Comments
Tech Things

As usual, I didn’t make my planned Valentines’ Day release. Just like last year, I didn’t finish the new Kutitots design on time 😛 Maybe it’s meant to be that way. Hehe.

So, what’s so special about Valentines’ Day anyway? Well, for one thing, that’s the day when I acquired the Kutitots domain. I thought that it would be “meaningful” if I re-launched my site’s design every time the site turns a year older, but for some reason, I can’t seem to meet the deadline I set for myself.

There really isn’t much to expect from the new design really. I’m sticking with my nature-and-green scheme. Blue is actually my favorite color, but green has somehow already gotten stuck with Kutitots so let’s just leave it like that. I made a promise to myself that I would be updating blog more often than once every four days, so I re-designed the layout in such a way that I would seem to be updating regularly 🙂 To be honest, I intentionally made this current design to show only the latest post on the home page for the simple reason that I didn’t want to call attention to my lack of updates.

What else to expect? Nothing much, except maybe for the fact that it would have a more “bloggy feel” into it as opposed to the current’s “news type” style. Just so I would get pressured to finish the layout, here’s a screenshot:

k-kutitotspreview.jpg

I swear I’ll have this up soon. We already got some good souls volunteering to help out at the 2007 Philippine Blog Awards, so I guess I’ll have a tad bit more time in my hands (not much, but enough). Right now, my inbox is a total disaster area (that’s a good thing really, it means there are a lot of Awards entries!). If you already sent me an email about volunteering for the event, I’m sorry I haven’t replied yet. The amount of emails I’ve been getting… Let’s just say I nearly fainted when I opened my inbox after being gone for just a day. So please don’t think I ignored you—we really appreciate the help (and we need it), but I’m just taking a bit of time going through my mail at the moment.

Reboot: Kutitots and the Beanstalk

14 July 2006     •     8 Comments
Tech Things

You are now seeing the 8th reboot of Kutitots. I’m still working on integrating the new design at the moment, so please hold your horses before reporting any bugs to me. I’ll just update this post when you CAN start reporting them. I’m an ass, I know.

Here’s a screenshot so I’ll have the image in the archive when time comes that I change the design:

Kutitots and the Beanstalk

Yeah. I made it for 1024 x 768 screen resolution. Looks best in screen res higher than that actually. I’m selfish, I know, but I think it’s about time you get a new video card if you’re still stuck in an 800×600 screen res and a good monitor.

Who’s willing to bet a million bucks with me that Loyal Ripper will rip this design again? Haha. I don’t have a million bucks, but if you’re willing to wager, why not? 😀

Reboot on the way; Rippers galore

10 July 2006     •     6 Comments
Tech Things

Yeah, Adam, I got jealous so I made one of my own. 😀

Seriously though, I’m getting tired of this bamboo theme even before I finished it. I guess I never really liked it that much, so I’m making a new one. Here’s a preview:

Kutitots version 8

Did you really think I’d show you the entire thing? Nope. Call me paranoid, but I’ve honestly gotten tired of this perennial ripper of mine. Who knows? That pain-in-the-arse might copy my design even before I get the chance to launch it. I am TYPICALLY one of those people who have high thresholds of patience for rippers (duh. I’ve even released themes for godsakes!), but this is getting ridiculous. I don’t think it’ll be long before that person copies my entire portfolio.

Yes. BEFORE anybody says it… I know. “Ripping is one of the sincerest form of flattery.” Flattery my ass! I don’t think I would have been bothered that much if this sorry human had the decency to NOT BRAG ABOUT THEM. Yep. Ripper brags about them. So ok, maybe I really shouldn’t care if the ripper brags about it on that person’s blog, it’s that person’s world, wtf do I care (when my sister was still having schizophrenic attacks, she had her OWN world… Hmm…). The friggin’ irony of this all is that this person actually brags about them TO ME!

Now tell me. Would you be flattered if the person who ripped your site (SITES) was thick enough to get all high-and-mighty to you? Of course not. You’ll be pissed. And I’m PISSED.

Suing this person will be an utterly waste of time… and money. They’re harmless rippings (note the “s”), not like this previous client of ours who demanded a full refund and STILL used my design (copied it horribly, I might add). My hon laughed when I asked him to spot the difference, and my friend Arelle practically covered her eyes and said the site rip was giving her sore eyes. This kind of ripping is a nuisance, but something you still can laugh about. Kind of like that annoying fly you just want to swat away.

As I said, it would take a lot of my patience before I get pissed when it comes to issues of ripping. I would even probably “encourage” little doses of it for people who are still starting out. “Mimicking” somebody else’s style is a good way to start out, it will give you an idea of the industry you’re getting into. And from there on, you will slowly be able to develop your own style and your own design personality. But if you’re still in the “mimicking” process and you already consider yourself above all… Now that’s where the problem begins… And that’s exactly what pisses me off.

My parents are both artists, and I’ve been brought up in the artist’s lifestyle. My parents, especially my dad, always (and I do mean ALWAYS) kept on reminding my sister and me to keep our feet on the ground. We’ve been taught to keep in mind that there will always be somebody better in the craft than us out there. This thought will not only be a source of humility, but also be the drive for us to better ourselves. If you’ve made yourself believe you’re the best of them all already, there won’t be any drive to improve yourself further. You’ll just be stuck in that black hole where only your dog is your “fan”. Or maybe you could just get a rhinoplasty New Jersey so we’ll have the same nose! If you keep on copying somebody else’s design and style, why stop there? Heh.

Those days

16 May 2006     •     2 Comments
Tech Things

Maybe it’s because I’m nearing my period… But I am so not feeling this layout anymore. I know it’s not done yet, but somehow I’ve just gotten tired of it. Still thinking of whether or not to release this theme for free… I already have quite a lot of themes (ok, just three) on my plate for release right now. Manuel has kindly provided photos for my use (I’ll credit him on the them of course), and I’ve been having quite a lot of fun playing around with them on my free time.

I don’t really understand why I’m not liking this design anymore… Maybe it’s also because the designs I made for my wedding blog and Marc’s blog are better. Hehe. Well, my opinion at least. I think they’re nicer.

I hope your mothers all had a great Mothers’ Day celebration. Mine did. We took her shopping. Hehe.

A new theme on Easter!

16 April 2006     •     6 Comments
Tech Things

Yeah, it’s a new theme. It’s not yet done, but I uploaded it anyway since today’s Easter, the day Jesus has risen. Weird analogy, I know. I just thought today would be the best time to at least “launch” it. 🙂

As I said, this theme is still under construction. So if you find broken links or anything out of the ordinary, don’t mind it. I’m making my site powered solely by WordPress, using it as some kind of a CMS. It’s a bit of a headache, but well worth it. The CSS of this site is a headache too, but who cares? Everything can be a headache anyway.

I’m not making any sense, am I? Sorry, my brain’s dead. Been up all night.

Happy Easter, everyone!

The text and photos on Kutitots belong to the site owner, Gail Dela Cruz - Villanueva (unless otherwise stated). Should you wish to reproduce my text and/or photo content, kindly send me an email and ask permission first. Please respect my copyright. Likewise, I'll respect your copyright too — I won't post photos from your site without your permission.

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Powered by Wordpress. Kutitots, Kutitots.Com © 2004-2012. By Gail Dela Cruz - Villanueva. All rights reserved.
Have some shame. Don't copy my flea, my layout and my design.