Octwelve - Blog of designer, MaryLuc Melgar

The latest design showcase of Smashing Magazine is about the use of Mascot in modern web design. And I’m happy because Luc (that Luc above) is one of the chosen ones. I’m so delighted! I’ve always hoped that my site will be featured on Smashing Magazine. They collect and showcase beautiful websites and graphic designs. They are a great source of inspiration for designers like myself.

Check it out at
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/01/15/isnt-it-sweet-mascots-in-modern-web-design/

Thanks for appreciating my design :)

Technorati Tags: Character Illustration, Mascot Illustration, Web Design, Design Trend, Inspiration, Modern Web Design

This question have been asked by my cousin who studied chemistry and now he seems to be interested in web designing. Quite a transition I thought. The first thing I could retort was “Are you creative?”. But let’s skip that. Here are the techy skills and required stuff to get started.

1. Choose a platform, PC or Mac

The never ending debate! I’m a PC user and it works fine with me. But if you are on this creative field you’ll be surrounded with Mac users who’ll sway you that Mac is a better computer for creative professionals and those who sings “Mac rocks PC sucks or Mac blings PC stinks” or whatever. Well, Mac is a pretty sweet looking machine. Leopard, the latest operating system of Mac has a lot of cool features too. So it’s really tempting to choose it over PC. However, Mac is a lot more expensive than PC. Although if Mac are not like 5x more expensive in Manila than in US, I’d definitely splurge on it. My 2 cents is, PC or Mac, it’s up to you. It’s just a matter of preference. At the end of the day, it’s your design that will be judge, not your equipment. :)

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Octwelve is featured on these best web design galleries ^_^

Thanks for appreciating my site. It’s really nice to be listed with other great designers that I look up to!

Technorati Tags: Web Design Gallery, CSS Gallery, Web Design Showcase, CSS Showcase, Best Web Designs

As a web designer, it is crucial that I test my web pages in different browsers. And I’m having a hard time doing that on Windows Vista. Well, I didn’t really want a Vista, but when I ordered my laptop, the OS is built in and I have no choice. Ah, why do Microsoft do this?! I’m planning to jump back to XP but there are some threads about some problems when installing XP on Vostro 1700. I haven’t yet tried though.

Some guys from 9rules adviced me to get Virtual PC 2007 but according to Microsoft, Virtual PC 2007 runs on: Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Tablet PC, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, and Windows Vista Ultimate. I have Windows Vista Home Basic.

Can anyone advice me on this? Had I known I cannot downgrade to XP or get any application to be able to run atleast IE6, I should’ve bought Macbook Pro instead like I initially planned and just bring my current rig with me to Singapore.

Technorati Tags: Windows Vista, Vista, Internet Explorer, Multiple Internet Explorer, Browser Test, Virtual PC

I just wanted to share with you the last project I’ve completed last year.

Reason for buying

As you know, I’m going to work in Singapore in the next few weeks and I need a desktop replacement-A laptop with a big screen and a sytem that will run descently with Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustration, as well as InDesign. Another factor I consider is the price-It has to be cheap because it’s only a temporary machine for my design projects. Vostro 1700 seems to be perfect for me.

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Vostro 1700 has finally arrived in my office today. A friend in the US ordered this laptop for me from Dell last October 10 and received it on October 30. Then on November 9 he sent the laptop in a balikbayan box package through Forexworld. Forexworld, btw, is a shipping company with headquarters in the US that ships packages to the Philippines. It took 48 days to deliver the package from Forexworld warehouse to my address. It came earlier than I expected. The shipping costs $135 only and I didn’t have to pay any taxes since it is in a balikbayan box. At first I was hesitant to send this through a balikbayan box but Forexworld did a good job on delivering my new laptop in one piece. :)

Technorati Tags: Dell, Vostro, Vostro 1700, Laptop, Balikbayan Box

So yesterday I’ve finally verified my Paypal account by adding the Eon Card from Unionbank. And here’s how I did it.

1. To open an EON Account, go to Unionbank’s website and sign up for the EON Visa Electron account. Choose the Unionbank branch where you want to claim your card.
2. Claim your card after a week.
3. Once you have your card, deposit at least Php200.
4. Enroll your card to EON CyberAccount Online Banking. It will take 2-3 days to be activated.
5. After 2-3 days, login to Cyber Account Online Banking to check if your account has been activated. If you were able to login, then it is activated :)
6. Go to Paypal and add your EON card.
7. After 4-5 days, contact the Unionbank Customer Service Call Center at 84-186 and ask for your 4-digit PayPal expanded use code.
8. Go back to your Paypal account and click on Finish Expanded Use Enrollment and enter the 4 digit code that is given to you.

And that’s it, you’re verified!

Technorati Tags: Paypal Philippines, Eon Card

1. Download WAMP. Instead of installing PHP, Apache, and MySQL mannually, WAMP can install these 3 automatically.

2. Double click the installer and install it in C:\

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Hey check that out! Octwelve has its first recognition! And it’s first on the list! Yay! Grand prize! hehe

http://pinoytwitters.com/2007/11/25/pinoytwitters-of-the-week-week-1-faces/

The theme is about Bloggers. I’m actually pretty new in Twittering and blogging so it’s cool to be selected even though I don’t have much contents yet. I guess they chose me for the design :D This motivates me to blog more :)

Thanks! :)

Technorati Tags: Twitter, Philippines