Here is the LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem.

What a lazy dude i am, so lazy infact i haven’t touched web design stuff for over half year, that’s is megga lazyness, what do about it, well i need to decide a project to work on, i need to get back skills, like CSS3, HTML5, and some jquery goodness, i need to update this website as well, let’s see how it will go.

Updated.

Some game sites that have a good design, let’s check them out.

It’s a cool image, check out the full image here.

I have downloaded the Firefox 4 beta and this image was on the start page, it’s really awesome and a good looking illustration.

I hope you guys like it, the full image here.

I have been busy figuring out a way to build a content platform and infrastructure to help the young digital artists and web designers, improve themselves in Macau, to foster creativity, engagement and learning through mutual sharing of resources and experiences.

As i see we clearly lack skill in Macau in web design and development (better than the design counter part), truth is we only have a handful of skilled web designers and these have been picked by casinos our the top agencies in Macau.

I have seen this years graduation works in the IPM, they were good, you could see innovative artworks, products and some good stuff, i could probably say that our best design students in Macau are coming from IPM, clearly the result of good curriculum’s and hard work, but still we miss the web side component of things, where are our web designers, where is our local talent regarding web design ?

It doesn’t exist, we have good illustrator, good comic artists, good designers (print) but we lack innovative, skilled and competent designers, now i could be generalizing and some people could be offended and say “hey i am a good designer, i consider myself a good web designer”, true that could be your opinion and i will respect it, but where is the results, can you compare the results to Hong Kong ? much less with Malaysia and Singapore, where strong communities thrive.

You can only see the quality of our websites when you visit the most prominent online presences in Macau.

Disclaimer: I do not know any of the designers, developers of these websites and i am not picking on anyone specific, just wished people opened their eyes and do something worth of the money invested, or at least to give some face to Macau, we do have now a few good websites (macau.com, venetian, city of dreams their first site, ponte 16 and on, some not done in Macau):

I will start with the one that picks my nerves:

• Macau Cultural Center
  http://www.ccm.gov.mo/en/intro.htm
  http://www.ccm.gov.mo/en/index.aspAs a hub for arts and music events, our most prestigious place, where we have all the important shows like operas, ballet, musicals, theater, this is surely a very disappointing website, we would expect a minimun artistic vision for the website, or at least something decent and modern (updated), i am speechless, not acceptable Possible solutions:
  http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/
  http://polynesianculturalcenter.com/LP/polynesian-luau-t2.html (although i still find it lacking)
  http://www.coliseumpac.com/
• Macau Tourism Office
  http://www.macautourism.gov.mo/en/
  http://www.macautourism.gov.mo/en/main/aboutus.php(an amazing “frontpage” style website, circa pre 2000)Parts of this website do not work, like the links to the Chinese language on the very top, this kind of design is very Chinese in style, lots of links to lots of content, but too much content spread all around makes it unusable for foreigners, now i do understand the Chinese style of website and they have their place and purpose in the asian context,  but for foreigners visiting macau, who speak and read english this website, its poorly lacking in communication,Possible solutions:
  http://www.yoursingapore.com/content/traveller/en/experience.html (for travelers)
  http://www.yoursingapore.com/content/mice/en.html (for business)
• Macau Museum
  http://www.macaumuseum.gov.mo/default.aspx
  http://www.macaumuseum.gov.mo/w3MMnews/newsC.aspx?newsId=90Not bad compared to the others before but still … missing quite a lot of imagination in my opinion, going to a museum should be an adventure, to discover and learn new things, so a website should start by enticing people to go and visit it with a strong visual design and clear information,Possible Solutions:
  http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/ -> http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/tentoonstellingen/?lang=en
  http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp?bmLocale=en
  http://www.brukenthalmuseum.ro/index_en.htm
  http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/ (main page)

It was not my wish to pin point these sites specifically but i see a need to criticize the artistic websites for their lack of artistic vision perhaps ? and the tourism website for lacking the attractiveness (the singapore is really a good example of how to make a website for the visitors with good navigation to important topics, traveler, business, health, family fun, etc).

Why giving these examples, simply because if we had more talented web designers and artists we would have a stronger chance of getting more designs, more creativity and more influence in any of these websites that we see in Macau.

I would like to create a community and provide resources for people to learn, engage, grow with others and get good constructive criticism as for a better development, i would like to help local charities with hosting and a web design, proving that they can be used as case studies for the benefits of students and/or people who want to learn how to make websites in Macau.

It’s a tad lonely to be in Macau and not having web designers coffee meetings, or lunches, or tea times discussing web stuff and new technology, design, etc.

To be continued…

I have played Forza 3 for the Xbox 360 and its real delight to be driving such a simulator, even though i am not a fan of racing simulation games, i duly prefer the arcadey racers, but Forza 3 is a force to be reckoned with, astounding visuals and realistic sound from the cars, scenery and more.

I will update the blog more about Forza 3 in the near future.

Here is quick post to let everyone know that i have been super lazy lately, changed jobs and working in some new designs and works for some new domain names, missed deadlines for macaugp and all.

Hoping with the new job finally i move my … so that i can finally get something done.

Latest domain is welovemacao.com, lets see what will come from this one.

Meanwhile i have been playing Forza 3 on the XBOX360 and Uncharted 2 in the PS3 … they are cool, highly recommend … yes they also part of the lazy reason why i haven’t updated the blog in ages … yeah i know they just come out recently but … no excuses for me haha~!

Ok so just to give the updates up, the horizon is opensourcewin and welovemacao …

First of all, welcome you all to the State of the Web: Macau 2009.

These blog series are focused in the state of the web design and development, the work being produced locally by the people of Macau, editorials and opinions will be shared, some of you may not agree and some you may, but hopefully it will be an interesting discussion from which we all can benefit.

The goal of these series is to raise awareness of the current state of the industry in Macau, to raise the expectations and levels of confidence in local talent, to educate the people acquiring these services and mostly to elevate our standards to an international level, as say Sidney, Melbourne, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Its my hope, we can stand tall and proud amongst our Asian peers.

Next Post in the Series: The State of Web Design in Macau.

This is a post to WordPress blog, by using the tool called ECTO, i don’t know yet if i am going to use the tool or not, since i can post directly from the blog admin interface, but its enticing to see if from one tool i could post to all my accounts, probably a better tool exists out there, to post to facebook, twitter, youtube, blogs, etc, lets see.