Short musings

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Sat, 04 May 2013 07:06:00 +0000

Sorry for not updating for close to a month. I've been busy with things like coursework and exams. Seriously, when you're at Masters level the stress just go up a few notch compared to when you were in your undergraduate years.

Apart from the usual hectic university life, I've been indulging myself in one of my favourite guilty pleasures: online shopping. I've been buying quite a lot of stuff from the net lately; most of them are clothes, but there are one or two other things like books or toys for my sisters. Also, I'd like to share my latest obsession. Some of you are probably aware of this but those who don't even have the slightest clue of what it is: Liz Lisa. Liz Lisa is a fashion brand for girls from Japan. The brand has several physical stores in Japan, a few in Hong Kong and China and one in San Francisco (I think). They also have an online shop for the brand and if like, you can take a look at it here. The items there are so lovely and dangerously cute but they're quite on the expensive side. I've explained this on my other blog so I hate to repeat it all over again. Just click the link above and you'll see what I mean.

Liz Lisa

I'd like to congratulate a couple of my online friends who won the Big Blog Exchange contest and won trips to Europe! Frigging hell they're so lucky! One of them (Kisty from The Style Mermaid) is set to visit the United Kingdom and I tell you this, if I hadn't visited the place myself before I would screaming my head off and pulling my hair out. To those who have not visited the UK yet, if you ever get the chance, it is an opportunity you shouldn't miss. It's a great place for vacation and there are just so many things to see. In case you're wondering though, I'm not working for the UK Tourism Board or anything like that but I'm simply sharing my thoughts and feelings about the place. :D

Presidential dollar coins

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:58:00 +0000

Presidential dollar coins. Cool huh? For those who love collecting coins as collector's items, these would be great additions to your collection. I'm not well-versed in this particular subject, so I'd leave you to browse the site yourself and make your own judgements. Don't forget to read the terms of sale, before making a purchase, of course. :)

Taobao shopping service guide

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 07:38:00 +0000

The original post can be found on my other blog here: http://cuteness.in/blog/2013/04/taobao-shopping-service-guide/

Taobao.com

In case you haven't heard of Taobao, here's a not-so-short introduction to it. Taobao is a online Chinese marketplace where individual sellers sell their goods. It is akin to Ebay or Amazon so if you are familiar with how these two work, you can get pretty much a rough idea how Taobao works. Since it is written in Chinese, you could just use translation tools like Google Translate to translate the pages into English.

The selection of items on Taobao is immensely HUGE so you can almost find anything and everything on it and at RIDICULOUSLY low prices too (warning alert: it might be wise to hide your purses before you go on Taobao). The currency used on Taobao is the Chinese Renminbi (RMB) which, according to the current exchange rate, 1 USD = 6.1 CNY and many of the apparel shops sell their goods at ¥100 or below. You can use currency converter tools such as Google Currency Converter plugin or online converters such as XE or Coinmill.

Just like Ebay, the shops on Taobao have ratings to indicate more or less the quality of the services. At the top of every shop's page, you would see little icons next to the shop's name. The icons are divided into hearts, diamonds and crowns. These icons indicate how many sales the store has made (not the quality), and the more sales a store make, the better the ranking is (with crowns being the highest). For a more detailed explanation on this, please refer to HelloLace under the heading of Feedback System and Item Authenticity.

HelloLace has compiled a good number of shops into a list. (I'm fighting the urge to check out some of the shops now...)

Be reminded that, Asian clothing sizes are different from those in Europe and US so always check the sizes before purchasing. Do not always rely on size converter charts but it is advisable to get your measurements and compare them to sizes listed on the shops.

Unfortunately for the rest of the world, Taobao is a closed market where most of the sellers do not ship outside China, and therefore Taobao did not accept international credit cards¹ though recently Taobao has announced they are accepting international credit cards but the fact remains that most of the shops on Taobao do not ship overseas.

But because there is a huge demand of the goods on Taobao from international customers, shopping services (SS) or agents start popping up here and there. These shopping services would perform as the third-party mediator between the stores on Taobao and international customers as well as providing forwarding services. Which basically means, if you want anything from Taobao, you approach one of these SS and inform them what items you want and they'll make the purchases for you and have those items shipped to your location. Obviously the services are not free and there are other fees to consider too.

Most SS are based in China so purchasing/handling processes are easier and faster. Though there are also individuals who offer such services as well and some of them do not necessarily based in China. Also, there are SS which cater for specific region/countries and this is particularly advantageous for those who prefer to have a local SS which is familiar with the country's customs regulations.

The following are several known Taobao SS (including individual agents). For more information/details on each one of them, please refer to this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0AlgllpMiw3VNdGpfWFlYazhjblh5emRjZF9qMkJISWc&f=true&noheader=true&gid=0

12got
AgencyTaobao
Bhiner
Buy China
Celestial Delinquent (individual)
Charmbuy
Dollypoodle (individual)
ENG Taobao
Frugirls
MyObook
Pruany
Taobaobuying
Taobao Focus
Taobao Now
TaobaoRing
TaobaoSpree
TaobaoTrends
Yoybuy
[If you'd like to add a shopping service to this list, please leave a comment below]

For Bruneians, our own local Taobao SS is Buyeos (currently operating through Facebook).

Placing orders
The shopping procedures would vary depending on which SS you use. Some might be of less hassle than others, but it also depends on you as a customer especially if you have special requirements. But generally there are two ordering systems: through web carts and, using spreadsheet form/emails.

1) Web carts
This is pretty simple to use. You only need to copy and paste the URL link of the item's page into an input box on the SS website and the SS will translate the page into English. Once translated, you can place your order like you would on Ebay or Amazon. However some SS's interface (such as Taobaonow and TaobaoTrends) do not include the option to choose size and/or colour so you would need to manually specify this in an input box provided.

2) Filling in a spreadsheet form or, for some individual agents, by emailing them with your requests.
For SS that require you to fill in a spreadsheet form, this form can be downloaded from the SS website. The form is usually designed so that it could automatically calculate the total cost for you. Once you are done, you are to email the form back to the SS and they will process your orders accordingly.
Do note that some SS may not allow you to add more items into the order later on so you might have to place another order again.

SS agents that operate as individuals may not have their own websites² so they may simply resort to using spreadsheet forms or by simply having the customers emailing them with what they want. The thing about individual agents is that their service is a lot more personal than other SS because most of the time they too are shoppers with their own needs so they would understand better a customer's needs and expectations. However, because many of these agents are doing this as a part-time hobby so they may/may not entertain enquiries from customers who do not intend to make purchases.

Fees
Now, while the items on Taobao can be low-priced, half of the bulk of the total cost is made up of shipping fees. Domestic shipping is not so much of a worry especially if you buy your items from the same seller. However, international shipping can be ginormous depending on your location. Moreover, there are also customs fee, service fee, insurance fee (optional) as well as fees charged by your bank (if you use credit cards) or PayPal or other money transfer services.

The service fees also depend on the SS you use. The lowest service fee according to my knowledge is 5% 3% (Dollypoodle) of the items subtotal.

Shipping and shipping fees
Shipping fees and delivery times vary according to the type of shipping services you use. Standard China air freight, is the cheapest option you can choose as well as the slowest one (this is arguable) which may take up to 2 months. Most people prefer to use EMS because it is faster³ but it is also more expensive. However, some SS actually offer up to 50% discount on EMS).
Note: Unfortunately for Brunei and a couple of other countries (sorry I can't remember which on top of my head), EMS service from China is not available.

Your SS may also offer other faster, safer (and much more expensive) delivery options, that is using couriers like DHL, FEDEX and TNT⁴. These are, as mentioned above, much more expensive than EMS so it is not advisable to pick this option if your items' subtotal cost less than the shipping fee (and as far as I know, only Yoybuy offer 50% discount on DHL).

So which SS should I choose?
It all boils down to what you are looking for and your personal preference. If you don't mind paying more for more quality personal service, you might want to go with the individual agents. The important thing is to read the reviews on the SS to get a general idea of the service. One shopping tip I'd like to share is: if you are new to Taobao shopping or if you are trying out a SS, always start small with your first order so that if anything goes wrong, your loss is not great.

If you guys have anything to add to the guide above, you can either email them to me at admin[at]cuteness.in or post them in the comment section below.

1. That includes international payment gateway like PayPal
2. Which can be costly to operate and these things can be a lot more technical than you could imagine
3. Some people say it can be slower than regular registered mail
4. Recently Yoybuy has added Aramex into the list of options

Santa Barbara rehab

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 05:52:00 +0000

Malibu Horizon is one of Santa Barbara rehab centres whih offers the most advanced approach to alcohol and drug treatment. Each client is treated as a unique individual with a custom designed treatment plan to address his or her personal needs so clients can feel assured and confident of the quality of the service he/she receives.

Review: Flat shoes from Zalora (Malaysia)!

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 15:16:00 +0000

This evening I finally received my long-awaited package from Malaysia. :)

Guess what this is?

It's actually the flat shoes which I ordered from Zalora Malaysia. Let me make this clear, though, Zalora Malaysia DOES ~~NOT~~ ship¹ to Brunei. So what I did was, I had Zalora deliver the shoes to my cousin's place (she is currently staying in Malaysia temporarily) and got my aunt who was on vacation in Malaysia to bring the shoes back to Brunei with her.

Honestly though, initially I wasn't sure whether I should purchase anything from Zalora after seeing so many mixed reviews on the store. But in the end I decided to just close my eyes and went for it.

Anyway, here are some eyecandies for you. :)

The shoes came in these plain boxes

I half-expected they would come in those nice, yellow boxes instead of these white and unceremonious boxes, but anyway let's not dwell on such unimportant bit.

Let's look at the first pair of shoes...

Sole Nice PU Flats with bow - MYR35.90 (approx. 11.60USD)

I like the combination of the colours

To be frank, this pair didn't come out as I had expected. The blue (more of teal actually) is darker than what is portrayed on the Zalora website and I had originally thought the material was suede but turns out it was made of synthetic (that's my own fault for not reading the description :p).

And the second pair...

Koumi Koumi Multi Colors Stripes Ballerina Flats - MYR49.90 (approx. 16.00USD)

I ordered the Fuschia Multi

The outer material is hard and stiff so it has the feeling of you're wearing something made out of rattan but it was actually made out of synthetic material. Nevertheless I really love the colours and I think it'll look nice on my feet.

Total cost = MYR35.90 (discount: - MYR1.89) + MYR49.90 (discount: - MYR4.99) + MYR5.00 (shipping) = MYR66.90
That is approximately USD21.50! And that is considerably cheap in my opinion. :p

So, what about the service?
I like the Zalora website. It's really easy to navigate around, it has clean interface, and overall the shopping experience was mostly smooth and easy --- except at the point when I have to make the payment. Initially I intended to pay for the shoes using my PayPal account but this was rejected several times (and I have no idea why!) so after several unsuccesful attempts, I decided to switch to my debit card and thank God it worked.

I actually sent an email to Zalora about this. This is what I emailed them:

Hello Zalora,

I tried to make a purchase from your store using PayPal as method of payment however I keep receiving this error message:

Error during payment

Dear customer,

The payment for your order *200187818* was not successful.

Could you look into this problem and let me know why the transaction was not successful.

Regards,Amalina Kasim

And this is the reply I got:

Dear Amalina,

Thank you for choosing Zalora, Malaysia's largest online fashion mall!

Please be informed that order 200187818 has been cancelled from our system, due to no payment.

Please reorder again.

Umm, that was not the answer I was looking for. In fact, the reply looked/sounded like it was an automated reply. I wanted to know why the transaction failed when I tried using my PayPal account. It couldn't be due to insufficient money because I know I have enough fund in that PayPal account. So yeah I hope Zalora will work on their customer service.

But all in all, it was a pleasant shopping experience and I did not regret clicking on the Buy button. I really love those shoes; they are pretty, affordable and so worth the wait. And I am so glad I can fit into the shoes because I was worried they won't fit me despite ordering the right size. Can't wait to go out and flaunt them to the world!

¹ Starting March 25th 2013, Zalora Malaysia has extended its service to include shipping to Brunei Darussalam. Definitely a good news for Bruneian fans of Zalora. :)

Best midi keyboard

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 04:53:00 +0000

My sisters play the guitars, but I much prefer the piano, or at least, a keyboard. Two reasons: I hate plucking strings because I'm afraid of them snapping off and hitting me and also because piano sounds better. Anyway, for keyboard fans, you might want to consider getting the best midi keyboard because well, if you can to get a keyboard, might as well get the best one available out there (though your wallet might disagree with that).

Offering $25 for a redesign

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 01:52:00 +0000

Image courtesy of Appcrush.net

I am actually looking or someone to redesign the layout on my long-abandoned blog http://amalina.org. I am a web design hobbyist myself but I just don't have the time to do the makeover myself so I'm offering this opportunity to others.
Of course the designer will be compensated but I can't offer more than USD$25, paid through PayPal.

Now, on to the details:

The blog is powered by a homegrown, custom-built and lightweight blogging platform, coded with HTML, CSS and PHP. The main templates files are: header.php, style.css, index.php, single.php, sidebar.php and footer.php.

I'm not entirely sure what kind of design I'm going for so I'm open to ideas and suggestions. :)

To interested individuals, feel free to email me at kitty(at)nekonette.com for more details.

I probably should make this clear: I'm not using Wordpress or Blogger, it's a custom-built platform.

Vise accessories

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 15:08:00 +0000

I am not used to woodworks or anything like that, so my knowledge on industrial stuff like vise accessories is minimal, if not zero. Anyway, if you are unlike me and you take interest in this sort of things, check out the link above for more info. You could order free catalogs on the items on that website so that'll probably save you from the trouble of having to check every single page on the website.

25% of all ad spots!

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 15:49:00 +0000

Hello everyone! Codeislove is currently looking for sponsors! For the next 7 days anyone who applies for advertising will be entitled to 25% discount for all ads! Simply put in the code "PROMO2013" during checkout and your blog/website/shop will be advertised for a whole 30 days.

Quick stats:
Monthly Unique Visitors: 5000+
Monthly page views: 7,000 ~ 9,000
GFC followers: 377
Twitter followers: 177
Facebook likes: 60
Feedburner readers: 165

Musical instrument

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 04:47:00 +0000

Like many people, I do like music and I marvel at those who could play musical instruments. Of the many musical instruments out there, my favourite is the piano. I do not like string instruments like guitars, violins, etc., for fear of the strings breaking and hurting me. But piano is different, you don't actually touch the strings so it's fine. Plus, piano makes great sounds that can evoke deep emotions inside me. I can't play the instrument properly like the professionals do though, so all I can do is play it per instruction on Youtube. Lol. PRS Guitars at guitar center

Little mystery giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 17:16:00 +0000

I was doing random bloghops when I came across this blog by Miss Ain Dzaya. Currently (at the time of post) she is hosting a mini giveaway whereby winners will be those who are able to take snapshots of the following numbers: 70555, 70600, 70666, 70700, 70777, 70800 and 70888. Those numbers correspond to the pageviews which you can find at the right side of the page. The numbers that you choose are not restricted to those above. It can be any number that you think/feel looks nice. And it has to be no more than 80,000. For more information, please head over to Miss Ain Dzaya's blog.

As for me, I was 5 numbers away from 70,600 and as we all know, the stat counter counts every page refresh and not unique pageviews, so all I had to do was refresh the page 5 times. Pretty neat, ain't it?

70,600 pageviews

Fo those interested in joining this mini giveaway, you still have the time to do so.

UX evangelist

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 10:23:00 +0000

If you are searching for an UX evangelist, perhaps you might want to check out Jonathan Saragossi's site. With experiences including creating the branding, positioning, UX and product for several brands such as IMCREATOR.com, ANY.do, POPS, WIX.com and MOMINIS, you can be sure this is the person to go to. I admit, the appearance of the website is not so convincing, but perhaps it is better to contact the webmaster directly and seek for consultation.

The teddy bear on the page is cute, though. Lol.

Real estate at Sunset Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 10:04:00 +0000

If you are looking for real estate Sunset Beach, the experienced and knowledgeable real estate professionals at Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage can help you find just what you’re looking for. Sunset Beach NC has home of all styles and price ranges.and if you are thinking of selling your house at Sunset Beach, you can also contact the real estate professionals at Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage for a free, non-commitment analysis of what your property is worth.

Horse riding apparel

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 05:46:00 +0000

For those who are into equestrian riding or belong in equestrian riding community, you most probably will need to have horse riding apparel. Well for one thing, you can't just go ride horses on regular basis without the proper gears. You'd need things like riding breeches, equestrian helmets, show clothes, horse blankets, saddles, and so forth. Anyway, you can check more of the stuff on The Equestrian Corner store and you'll be able to find out more about the products they have on there.

Want to be interviewed?

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:09:00 +0000

Right, I'm slightly out of focus this week and I don't really have anything to blog about except currently I'm out and about (on the internet, I mean) looking for items that I would give away as prizes in the upcoming giveaway. I'm still holding on to the book giveaway but I'm contemplating of throwing in another one as: 1) A second go giveaway (double giveaway!!) or, 2) A substitute giveaway (if in case I decide not to do the book giveaway).

Anyway, these all are merely plans in my head and nothing been absolutely confirmed yet. I still have to hear from certain people regarding the prizes so I'm not in any hurry to launch the giveaway.

On a different note, does anyone wants to be interviewed? It's been a while since the first Codeislove's interview so I think it's time to feature another blogger! Think of it as a free advertising/promotion for you and your website/blog. If you are interested, simply leave a comment below with the link to your website/blog. If I have more than three commentators, I'll randomly pick 2 out of the bunch.

Blogshop template for sale!

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:21:00 +0000

I don't know about you readers but it always gives me a feeling of satisfaction every time I receive comments like these:

It warms my heart that there are people who appreciate what I do and the fact that my tutorials actually are useful to others just double my joy.

I've been sifting through some old files on my computer and I found a blogshop template for Classic Blogger which I created several months ago. I've been meaning to put it up for sale but somehow I never got around to doing it. If you're interested in purchasing the template, do contact me via through the contact form.

Here is a screenshot of the blogshop template:

Some main features:
The template has a shopping cart.
The payment method incorporated into the template is PayPal.
This template is for Classic Blogger.
The currency used can be adjusted to other currencies, not just USD.

The price is 20USD but I'm open for offers. :)

Giveaway! by Mochakari and Eyecandy

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 14:42:00 +0000

This is the second time Codeislove is joining a giveaway. This giveaway is hosted by Kari/Linda from Mochakari. I knew her from ny first domain giveaway where she was one of the lucky winners. So anyway as I said, this time I'll be joining hers and we'll see how far my luck goes (if I have any).

Join Mochakari's giveaway for awesome prizes!

Just to entice (and tease) you people further, here's the prize list:

1x Pair of Circle Lenses from EyeCandylens.com of your choice
1x Small Hello Kitty Plush
1x Box Japan "Luminous False Lash"
2x Bows from my shop, Bowkuma.com
1x Deco Case for iPhone 4/4S
1x Hello Kitty Press On Nails
1x Pink Wig
1x Top
1x Ribbon Cherry Hairclip
3x Feathery Pens
And extra surprise bunches from Kari/Linda

Seriously the prizes are so awesome and this is what prompted me to join (considering I don't usually like joining giveaways).

I promised my sister I'd give her the lenses if I win. You bet she'll love it ~~~ who doesn't like nice and free stuff?

Tutorial: Blogger archives in dropdown menu

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 08:09:00 +0000

I haven't posted any tutorials or articles for quite some time so in this post, I'll show you how to display Blogger blog post archives using dropdown menu. This tutorial is really easy, all you need to know is how the dropdown menu works, and then stick in the Blogger archive codes.

Step 1
As usual, save your template before attempting this.

Step 2
Then open up your text editor and type out this code:



<select onChange="location.href=this.options[this.selectedIndex].value;">

<option value=""></option>

</select>

The onChange attribute's value is set that way so that when an item is selected from the list, it will automatically opens to the selected link.

Step 3
Right, it's time to include the Blogger archives code.



<Bloggerarchives>

<a href="<$BlogArchiveURL$>"><$BlogArchiveName$></a>

</BloggerArchives>

The above code will automatically generate a list of Blogger posts, however, we want the list to be placed within a dropdown menu. So we will put the code above into the codes in Step 2.



<select onChange="location.href=this.options[this.selectedIndex].value;">

<Bloggerarchives>

<option value="<$BlogArchiveURL$>"><$BlogArchiveName$></option>

</BloggerArchives>

</select>

Now all you need to do left is to copy and paste this code where you want it to appear.

2012 in a nutshell

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 01:35:00 +0000

credit to Webneel.com

Now that we have successfully outlived the overrated prediction of the December 2012 apocalypse, we are now stepping into 2013. My wish and hopes for this new year is to achieve success and grab new opportunities as they come along.

2012 had been a short, yet memorable year. Getting a paid job and going back into university as a post-grad student were the two major things that happened to me in that year and while some things would never change (like procrastinating), it was, essentially, quite a productive year.

I also bought a new domain, Cuteness.in two days before. Don't ask why, it was really done on impulse. The website for the domain is not yet finished, but you can check it out nevertheless.

Lastly, a question (or two) for you:

What was 2012 like for you, and what are your hopes and expectations for 2013?

Christmas cards and...

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:38:00 +0000

Christmas is drawing near! This afternoon I went out to get some Christmas cards from a gift shop. To be honest it's darn difficult to find a decent shop that sells Christmas stuff. The fact that we don't celebrate Christmas here might explain it all..

Anyway, I'm in the process of setting up the book giveaway. I've done some planning on this and hopefully I will be able to make it happen without problems. I've even drafted the blog post on the giveaway. However, there's just this one little thing. I have decided that the giveaway will be hosted on my personal blog Nekonette.com instead of in here because I feel Nekonette is not getting enough exposure lately (might have got to do with my lack of updates) so I think this would be a good opportunity to draw people to that blog again.

If you have any questions regarding this giveaway (or why I even bother about sending out Christmas cards to people when I don't even celebrate it) please send them through the contact form or to kitty[at]nekonette.com.

Introducing these fun things

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 02:40:00 +0000

As stated in the last post, I have a plan to launch a book giveaway. I have not worked on the mechanisms as yet, but I've already selected a range of books that would be given away as prizes. This giveaway will run sometime in December, most probably in the second week of the month. This giveaway will also be open internationally so anyone can join this.

Aside from the giveaway news, lately I've been too engrossed in this game - The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-Earth. I've been playing it on my iPad for about 2 weeks now. You can also play this game on your Android devices. The game is pretty addictive, especially if you join any active alliances because these alliances are all vying for the top position (I know my alliance is).

The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-Earth

Planning a giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:22:00 +0000

Sorry for the lack of updates. I have been extremely busy with studies. Taking Masters degree takes a toll on your mental and physical, you know? Anyway, this is simply a random update, just to let you know that I am still alive and kicking.

Also, I'm thinking of throwing a book giveaway this December, as opposed to domain giveaway (partly because I feel domain giveaway is a little old already and partly because I want to encourage more people to read books). I will work on the mechanics of the giveaway after the exams but I can tell you this much, the books that would be given away would be in English language only. Okay, other than that, I'm not sure as yet what the plan would be but I'm sure I'll be able to put some things together.

So what are your ideas on this giveaway? Will you support it if I decide to carry on with the plan?

Tutorial: Displaying latest tweets using Javascript (REVISED)

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 06:55:00 +0000

Recently I've noticed that the tweets have stopped being displayed on the blog but I'd thought it was normal since it does happens every once. In a while. But when Ben Watson from The Illiterate Gamers mentioned that the same thing happen to his webite as well, I decided to do a little info digging here.

It turns out that apparently Twitter.com is phasing out the API 1.0 and will retire it by March 2013. Which means that the current method has stopped or will no longer be working anytime soon. More info on that here: https://dev.twitter.com/docs/faq#10647.

So, what is the solution to that? Luckily there's a way around this problem (and it is working with no noticeable issue, so far). You will only need to slightly modify the code a bit. The original code was:



<div id="twitter_update_list"></div>

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://twitter.com/javascripts/blogger.js"></script>



<script type="text/javascript" src="http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/USERNAME.json?callback=twitterCallback2&amp;count=4"></script>

And replace that code with:



<div id="twitter_update_list"></div>

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://twitter.com/javascripts/blogger.js"></script>



<script type="text/javascript" src="http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.json?screen_name=USERNAME&include_rts=true&count=3&callback=twitterCallback2"></script>

For styling/customising the tweets, please refer to the earlier post on this topic here: http://www.codeislove.net/2011/06/displaying-latest-tweet-using.html

Blog review for runner-up winner

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 06:34:00 +0000

In case some people might have missed this info, I was actually one of the judges for Pinkisluv's Domain and Cute Stuff giveaway. I was in charge of selecting the second place winner. And as promised, the runner-up will receive a blog review and a custom blog layout from me as the prizes. Here is my complete blog review on her blog. Enjoy the read.

Just to be clear on this, it was not an easy task to choose which of the blogs deserve to win the second place. All of them have their own strengths and weaknesses and I practically had to go back and forth on my decision. Anyway, after thoroughly reviewing the shortlisted blogs for the second place, I have decided to pick Nurul Nabila of http://gadisbermatacokelat.blogspot.com/ as the second place winner.

Here are the reasons why I chose her blog out of the others:

The blog is written coherently and using proper grammar and spellings. The content in each blog posts are arranged in paragraphs - not too long, nor too short. Good length. Also, the punctuation marks are used correctly.

The blog is updated frequently, which is good because it gives the visitors something fresh and new everytime they come and visit the blog.

Ok, I'm basically done with the short review. The next part will be the overall review of the website. Please take note that the review is based on the following rubrics:

First impressions and site name
Navigation
Layout and design
Content
Coding and validation
Browser compatibility
Comments (and suggestions)

First impressions and site/blog name

Gadisbermatacokelat is unique in itself, however it is not as easy to read due to the name is composed of three different words. It would be better to include hyphens in between those words, Gadis-bermata-cokelat.

At first glance, the blog looks simplistic enough. The design is not complicated and everything seems to be organised nicely.

Navigation

The navigation menu is easy enough to spot. Located on the left side of the blog, visitors will definitely won't miss them. Since the navigation menu links make use of div layer and Javascript, there is no page loading required, hence the hover effect helps to the visitors to know which link they are clicking on. However, the font size for the menu should be enlarged as to make it stand out and allow the visitors to spot them easily.

Aside from the navigation menu, it is also relatively easy to spot the other links on the blog. Again, here the hover effect makes a difference to indicate which one is a hyperlink and which is a normal text.

All the links on the blog are working so good job there.

Layout and design

As stated previously, the design of the layout is close to minimalistic and it is easy to navigate around the blog. The blog is divided into two sections: the content body and the sidebar. The header is simple and does not attract too much attention since the main focus is the content. However, too much space is set aside for the header since the actual header is quite small. This gives the impression of too much white-space, though it is somewhat compensated by the banner on the top of the page. I would suggest the height of the header to be reduced. And I do not quite understand the purpose of the 'slide to fade' effect of the header apart from to give it an animated finish.

There is also a big empty space in the footer section. I am guessing this is due to the advert code placed there, though at the moment (when this review is written) there are no ads visible.

The font for the headings (both in the sidebar and the main body) are too small. While it would be legible enough for people with normal eyesight, this certainly will pose a problem to those with visual problems. I recommend using a larger font for them. Moreover, for headings, it is better to use the heading tags, such as <h1> or <h2> rather than using divs.

Content

Larger font should also be used for the blog posts. The spacing between the lines are too narrow and it makes the paragraphs look somewhat crowded.

The link for the comment is also too small for some people to notice so you could make it larger. The date could also be changed to use the DD-MONTH-YEAR format (14 September 2012) instead of using 14.09.12 since not everyone use this DD-MM-YY format (the Americans for example, use MM-DD-YY format).

On the About page, I would highly suggest you to not include your personal details on your blog. This is for your own safety. By putting your personal details on your blog such as your birth place, school, hometown, etc., you are exposing yourself to danger here. Perhaps due to your young age, you may not be aware but this is how stalkers can find you. Do yourself and your family favour by keeping these details to yourself only.

Linkies page: 'Linkies' is not a word. You can replace this with 'Links' or 'Linkages'.

If you are committed to use English on the blog, do try to use proper grammar. For example: 'Link exchange currently OPEN'
and 'You delete mine, i'll delete you! I always check it now!'

These should be rewritten as, 'Link exchange is currently OPEN' and 'You delete my link, I will delete yours! I always do link checks!'

Other things to take note of:
Chitchat - Chit Chat
Want join? - Want to join?
Helped: colour; picture; - With the help of: NAME OF THE WEBSITE, NAME OF THE WEBSITE
Best view in Google Chrome - Best viewed in Google Chrome

I don't quite follow what you meant by 'No strangers please' because all visitors to your blog whom you do not know or recognise would be strangers. I think what you meant is 'No anonymous visitors please'.

Apart from those above, I also do not encourage the use of custom cursors. The reason for this can be found in my article here:

//This point is based on my personal preference // While I very much dislike background music on websites, at least yours has a stop/pause button, and that is a relief.

Newer and older posts links should be placed in the main body section, preferably at the bottom of the blog entry. Putting them on the sidebar just makes the links out of place and so that visitors won't have to scratch their heads looking for them.

Coding and validation

According to the W3C validation service, you have 40 Errors, 60 warning(s) on your front page, but since the W3C does not support Blogger tags so I am not going to be too anal about this. However I will be pointing out the other major errors that you need to fix.

Unable to Determine Parse Mode!



No DOCTYPE found! Checking with default HTML 4.01 Transitional Document Type.

You have not included a DOCTYPE which is why you get these errors. A doctype is important to allow the browser to detect what tyrepe of HTML you are using on your blog which will help the browser to display the page accordingly.

document type does not allow element "CENTER" here
You should not put divs and/or even <center> tags within the head section. This is not the place to put them. You should place them in the <body> section instead.

For every img tags, there must be the alt attribute included. This is to allow people who have chosen to disable the Show image option in their browsers to know what are the images that are in there.

For script tags, the type of the script must be declared. Yours is like this:
<script language=JavaScript> while it is supposed to be <script language="JavaScript" type="text/Javascript">

Here is a common overlooked error: end tag for element "BR" which is not open
</br> should be rewritten as <br />

And according to the W3C CSS validation service, you have 35 errors but since most of the errors are due to the specifications have not been included by W3C so no need to fret here. But just like the HTML validator, I will go through the main errors.

.header Value Error : padding-top -25.0 negative values are not allowed : -25px
There is no such thing as negative values for padding. You might want to use margins instead.

#leftcontent Property _margin-top doesn't exist : 30px
This is probably due to typing error; _margin-top should be margin-top

Browser compatibility

Your web page is compatible across different resolutions above 1024x600 as well as on different major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera) so congratulations on that.

Comments and suggestions

As noted above, your spelling/grammar need to be polished up a bit but this is not a major problem, considering English is not your first language. However, do take note on the other areas such as font sizes and your personal details. Slight changes should be done to the header height and also the coding errors.

I also highly suggest you to change the target links for the Newer and Older posts links since I do not think your visitors will appreciate having multiple tabs opened in their browsers just to read your older/newer posts.

Tutorial: Showing recent comments on blog

noreply@blogger.com (Kitty) — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 03:58:00 +0000

Today's tutorial will show you two methods of showing recent comments on the blog. Please take note that each one has its own limitation(s) so before copying and pasting the codes into your blog, do read this tutorial carefully.

Method 1



<h2>Recent Comments</h2>

<Blogger>

<MainPage>

<BlogItemCommentsEnabled>

<BlogItemComments>

<$BlogCommentAuthor$> // 

<a href="<$BlogCommentPermalinkURL$>">

<$BlogCommentPermalinkURL$></a>

<p class="comment-body">

<$BlogCommentBody$>

</p>

</BlogItemComments>

</BlogItemCommentsEnabled>

</MainPage>

</Blogger>

The codes above will be shown only on the main page and not on individual pages. If you want them to appear on the individual pages as well, remove the <MainPage></MainPage> tags.

However, this code does not show the recent comments per se. It only shows recent comments for the post on the current page.

Method 2

By using this code snippet, recent comments will only be visible if the blog is set to public. The reason for this is because the script utilises the blog feeds in order to generate the recent comment. The script needs to be able to read the feed and it can't read the feed if the blog is put on private.



<script type="text/javascript">

function showrecentcomments(json){for(var i=0;i<a_rc;i++){var b_rc=json.feed.entry[i];var c_rc;if(i==json.feed.entry.length)break;for(var k=0;k<b_rc.link.length;k++){if(b_rc.link[k].rel=='alternate'){c_rc=b_rc.link[k].href;break;}}c_rc=c_rc.replace("#", "#comment-");var d_rc=c_rc.split("#");d_rc=d_rc[0];var e_rc=d_rc.split("/");e_rc=e_rc[5];e_rc=e_rc.split(".html");e_rc=e_rc[0];var f_rc=e_rc.replace(/-/g, " ");f_rc=f_rc.link(d_rc);var g_rc=b_rc.published.$t;var h_rc=g_rc.substring(0, 4);var i_rc=g_rc.substring(5, 7);var j_rc=g_rc.substring(8, 10);var k_rc=new Array();k_rc[1]="Jan";k_rc[2]="Feb";k_rc[3]="Mar";k_rc[4]="Apr";k_rc[5]="May";k_rc[6]="Jun";k_rc[7]="Jul";k_rc[8]="Aug";k_rc[9]="Sep";k_rc[10]="Oct";k_rc[11]="Nov";k_rc[12]="Dec";if("content" in b_rc){var l_rc=b_rc.content.$t;}else if("summary" in b_rc){var l_rc=b_rc.summary.$t;}else var l_rc="";var re=/<S[^>]*>/g;l_rc=l_rc.replace(re, "");if(m_rc==true)document.write('On '+k_rc[parseInt(i_rc, 10)]+' '+j_rc+' ');document.write('<a href="'+c_rc+'">'+b_rc.author[0].name.$t+'</a> commented');if(n_rc==true)document.write(' on '+f_rc);document.write(': ');if(l_rc.length<o_rc){document.write('<i>&#8220;');document.write(l_rc);document.write('&#8221;</i><br/><br/>');}else{document.write('<i>&#8220;');l_rc=l_rc.substring(0, o_rc);var p_rc=l_rc.lastIndexOf(" ");l_rc=l_rc.substring(0, p_rc);document.write(l_rc+'&hellip;&#8221;</i>');document.write('<br/><br/>');}}document.write('<div style="font-size:70%;text-align:center"></div>');}

</script>



<script style='text/javascript'>var a_rc=3;var m_rc=true;var n_rc=true;var o_rc=100;</script><script src='http://www.yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default?alt=json-in-script&callback=showrecentcomments'></script>

Change the values in the code above.

var a_rc = 3 // this is the number of comments you want to display

var o _rc = 100 // this is the length of the comments you want to display

yourblogname.blogspot.com // change it to your own blog URL