*Yawn*

It's nearly 9am, and I've been working straight since 4pm yesterday. Hardcore.

Today is a special day for me.

I log in my Deviant Art account to find 3 messages - all telling me I suck.

Apparently I suck because I refuse to support Opera's "brilliant" browser. I refuse to do so because Opera has, in fact, their own way of interpreting CSS and AJAX rules. I'm a stalwart with regards to the standardization of rules across the web, regardless of the platform used. This is why I am very critical of Microsoft's repeated attempts to "own" new technology by copying it, and then reinterpreting it (XAML, Jscript, etc.). Having one bastard is enough, but for Opera to begin walking down the same route? Unacceptable.

However, at the time of this writing, apparently Microsoft's upcoming IE8 will fully support CSS2.1 and all the other standard rules across the web, due to having passed the -very- difficult ACID2 test. Neither Opera 9 nor Firefox 2 has, in fact, passed the test. However Opera 9+ beta and Firefox 3 beta both do. Incredibly, this may mean that when 2008 rolls around, it would mark the very first time in web history wherein all browsers will render the base rules of HTML and CSS in exactly the same way!

My other 2 "I suck" messages were directed when I made a comment on one of the Deviants (he was neither of the two). The deviant in question closed his old account, with one of the last journal entries discussing how he wants to drop his very colorful/graphic heavy web design style, and then go the minimalist route. I applauded him for finally seeing the light (because frankly, a lot of his work was unusable in the real world of the web), and I shared a few links with him that showcases brilliantly designed minimalist sites.

Soon after however, said designer opens a new Deviant Art account, apparently to reinvent himself, and then <surprise>shockingly</surprise> posts his first Deviation - a site design that looks EXACTLY like his old work. I thus then pointed this out - and then I receive two replies telling me I suck... just for pointing this out.

Perhaps DeviantArt should post a warning when you register:
Caution: Very Angry Children Populate This Website - Sign Up At Your Own Risk.

It. Just. Is.

I openly admit to using Dreamweaver's code view whenever I build websites, primarily for the sole reason that it is far quicker to write out CSS and XHTML on it than on notepad, simply because it displays a set of attributes and properties that I may or may not need. Sometimes I also do tend to forget basic CSS attributes and their properties (font-weight vs font-size, etc.), and this is where Dreamweaver was a gift from God. Once you entered an attribute, it would give you a list of available properties.

However, I am now officially dropping Dreamweaver for Aptana.

What is Aptana then?

I couldn't believe it when I first saw it. An OPEN SOURCE web IDE. "Free? How could this be free?" I thought. I then took a look at the videos and documentations. AJAX support? Ruby on Rails? Adobe AIR? iPhone development? PHP Validation? JavaScript? [link].

Did I mention it's free?

Nothing, and I mean nothing comes close this piece of work. Not only does it have Dreamweaver's "fill-in-the-blanks" system, it has it for languages that DW does not even support, such as (my personal fave) JavaScript!

And just for good measure, Aptana even has certain JavaScript frameworks built in, such as Scriptaculous, Mochikit, and a few others. Un-be-lievable.

Try it out yourself. It's fairly lightweight for a web dev software (under 100mb), and there are no strings attached. [link]

It's the future!

P.S. Actually, this software isn't new, but I've only just come across it recently since I've always been pretty much pure-blooded Adobe.

Yep, last count placed rudex.ph on 7 awards/web design feature sites. Not bad for a site that took two weeks to design and develop. I pray we get the same love and affection when Studio Gecko Interactive is launched on 11:11.

I've also noticed that it's been months since I've browsed the DA section for web design. Sadly, and I must be blunt here, I have yet to see anything mind bending in a really long while (like 6 months or so). The level of quality from the past has simply died out, and I really do think it's because a lot of pro-level designers simply didn't want their designs being ripped.

Which sort of leads me to the whole 11:11 thing. We're making quintuple-sure that everyone in the entire world knows what our design and layout looks like.

{11:11} - It's gonna be massive!

Well, I can't say much except... Yipee! Things are looking good! I pray they keep on the same track.

Although Jenn and I are still doing work for our UK-based employers, we did a website for a local client (www.rudex.ph), and we've been featured on 3 design awards sites so far (cssmania, screenalicious, most inspired), and I just received an email from a 4th, design shack, that we're going to be featured there too. Awesome stuff!

Now we're redesigning danrgonzales.com (Google + Flash = no page rank!!! ) and turning it into a XHTML/CSS/AJAX (just a bit) website so that we can get better page rank, and get indexed by Google. Enjoy that magazine-style page flip Flash script while it's there, because the next time you see it, it'll be on our website (Studio-Gecko.Com) as a download.

So there you go. Again, keep in mind that our official website will be launched on the 11th of November, 11pm GMT (UK for those who don't know what GMT means). We hope that you guys will be present.

Ciao for now!

EDIT: Just got featured on CSS Snap as well.