Update some more posts.

12 files changed, 264 insertions, 156 deletions

diff --git a/_posts/2008-10-10-mastering-content.html b/_posts/2008-10-10-mastering-content.html
deleted file mode 100644
index af5a9dc..0000000
--- a/_posts/2008-10-10-mastering-content.html
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
----
-layout: post
-title: Mastering content
-tags:
-- Design
-- Development
-status: publish
-type: post
-published: true
-meta:
-  _edit_last: '1'
----
-Many times I wonder why there are such brilliant websites and the people behind them are such great masterminds. I'm already assuming there needs to have a bit of genius, not just creativity. I'm talking about the core of <em>every</em> website: <strong>content</strong>.
-
-Imagine you care about content already, but in what way? Do you design for the content or the other way around? Do you create a layout based on the information/content you have or do you try and generate content based on the lovely yet empty work of art you've created with Photoshop?
-
-<!--more-->Every piece of content has its weight inside a website, acknowledging that is a major step towards balance and success. I took this into consideration when building my last project with a local client, in which he asked for many many chunks of information all organized across pages. Measuring each chunk of information takes credit in the definition of a proper layout in which each portion can be more relevant or not through width, height, color, typography, everything.
-
-<em>Content, not data!</em> It is our job as designers/engineers to make content out of data that a client gives us. No matter how much a client sees <em>their content</em>, it's still <strong>data</strong> for us and it's also our job to help the client understand what data should be like in a website and what importance it should have to achieve better results. I'm not saying we should override their needs, we actually need to listen to what they want, we're not wizards :P We can even pretend we're a regular user of theirs and play the game, a lot of results come from such an approach concerning usability and accesibility.
-<h3>End of story</h3>
-Content is what grabs people's attention on a website and the way it's explicit. You can even have a beautiful background and today's grungy trends and everything, but if your content is not meaningful and well marked up then something's definitely wrong.
diff --git a/_posts/2008-10-10-mastering-content.markdown b/_posts/2008-10-10-mastering-content.markdown
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce7d8eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_posts/2008-10-10-mastering-content.markdown
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: Mastering content
+tags: [ design, development ]
+published: true
+---
+
+Many times I wonder why there are such brilliant websites and the people behind
+them are such great masterminds. I'm already assuming there needs to have a bit
+of genius, not just creativity. I'm talking about the core of _every_ website:
+**content.**
+
+Imagine you care about content already, but in what way? Do you design for the
+content or the other way around? Do you create a layout based on the
+information/content you have or do you try and generate content based on the
+lovely yet empty work of art you've created with Photoshop?
+
+Every piece of content has its weight inside a website, acknowledging that is a
+major step towards balance and success. I took this into consideration when
+building my last project with a local client, in which he asked for many many
+chunks of information all organized across pages. Measuring each chunk of
+information takes credit in the definition of a proper layout in which each
+portion can be more relevant or not through width, height, color, typography,
+everything.
+
+_Content, not data!_ It is our job as designers/engineers to make content out
+of data that a client gives us. No matter how much a client sees _their
+content,_ it's still **data** for us and it's also our job to
+help the client understand what data should be like in a website and what
+importance it should have to achieve better results. I'm not saying we should
+override their needs, we actually need to listen to what they want, we're not
+wizards :P We can even pretend we're a regular user of theirs and play the
+game, a lot of results come from such an approach concerning usability and
+accesibility.
+
+End of story
+------------
+
+Content is what grabs people's attention on a website and the way it's
+explicit. You can even have a beautiful background and today's grungy trends
+and everything, but if your content is not meaningful and well marked up then
+something's definitely wrong.
diff --git a/_posts/2008-10-20-corrupt-kings-an-approach-to-greedy-people-of-the-web.html b/_posts/2008-10-20-corrupt-kings-an-approach-to-greedy-people-of-the-web.html
deleted file mode 100644
index c73c4a0..0000000
--- a/_posts/2008-10-20-corrupt-kings-an-approach-to-greedy-people-of-the-web.html
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
----
-layout: post
-title: ! 'Corrupt kings: an approach to greedy people of the web'
-tags:
-- Design
-- Loadacrap
-status: publish
-type: post
-published: true
-meta:
-  _edit_last: '1'
----
-This is something that intrigues me pretty much: design companies / people who claim themselves the trophy for great products and yet they suck. I tag these guys as <em>corrupt kings</em> or <em>napoleons</em> of the web because they think they are the best at what they do and yet they don't and no one tells them so!
-
-<!--more-->I met a client a couple days ago. He asked me to retake on a project that used a very strange platform. "Please take a look at the current launch, José". What do I do? I browse CSS, accessibility, usability and source code. The apparently awarded CMS was built on a table based layout and it didn't show the same results over different browsers. And you say: "OK, so what's the problem with designing on top of a table layout ?" If it works on many browsers and you can't afford web standards, well... keep it! But if it comes out as a complete junk like this, I would be ashamed of myself. The website looks like this in <a href="http://localhost:8888/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/ie6.png">Internet Explorer</a>, <a href="http://localhost:8888/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/firefox.png">Firefox</a> and <a href="http://localhost:8888/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/safari.png">Safari</a>.
-
-Any <em>napoleon</em> with this level of costumer fidelity - yea, the costumers say they have <em>really great</em> products! my gosh... — ought to be better prepared to face the real challenge, when users start to realize there are many browsers to choose from, new technologies improve user experience and designers and developers create the web differently with more care for performance, beauty and usability. Are you a designer reading this? Take a look at web standards and cross-browser experience. I'm sure you'll like it.
diff --git a/_posts/2008-10-20-corrupt-kings-an-approach-to-greedy-people-of-the-web.markdown b/_posts/2008-10-20-corrupt-kings-an-approach-to-greedy-people-of-the-web.markdown
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f331abd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_posts/2008-10-20-corrupt-kings-an-approach-to-greedy-people-of-the-web.markdown
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: ! "Corrupt kings: an approach to greedy people of the web"
+tags: [ design, loadacrap ]
+published: true
+---
+
+This is something that intrigues me pretty much: design companies / people who
+claim themselves the trophy for great products and yet they suck. I tag these
+guys as _corrupt kings _or _napoleons_ of the web because they think they are
+the best at what they do and yet they don't and no one tells them so!
+
+I met a client a couple days ago. He asked me to retake on a project that used
+a very strange platform. "Please take a look at the current launch, José". What
+do I do? I browse CSS, accessibility, usability and source code. The apparently
+awarded CMS was built on a table based layout and it didn't show the same
+results over different browsers. And you say: "OK, so what's the problem with
+designing on top of a table layout ?" If it works on many browsers and you
+can't afford web standards, well... keep it! But if it comes out as a complete
+junk like this, I would be ashamed of myself. The website looks like this in
+[Internet Explorer](http://localhost:8888/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/ie6.png),
+[Firefox](http://localhost:8888/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/firefox.png) and
+[Safari](http://localhost:8888/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/safari.png).
+
+Any _napoleon_ with this level of costumer fidelity - yea, the costumers
+say they have _really great_ products! my gosh... — ought to be better
+prepared to face the real challenge, when users start to realize there are many
+browsers to choose from, new technologies improve user experience and designers
+and developers create the web differently with more care for performance,
+beauty and usability. Are you a designer reading this? Take a look at web
+standards and cross-browser experience. I'm sure you'll like it.
diff --git a/_posts/2008-10-29-collaboration-in-development.html b/_posts/2008-10-29-collaboration-in-development.html
deleted file mode 100644
index 896dbd7..0000000
--- a/_posts/2008-10-29-collaboration-in-development.html
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
----
-layout: post
-title: Collaboration in development
-tags:
-- Development
-status: publish
-type: post
-published: true
-meta:
-  _edit_last: '1'
----
-I usually write after something big approaches me. This could be no bigger: <em>collaboration is not considered when developing</em>. Well, at least not lately. Here's what happened:
-
-<!--more--><a href="http://styl.eti.me">Roger Byrne</a> asked me to check a plugin and help him in a submission form. Roger said to me that the Javascript inside the wordpress instalation he already had was obtrusive and he needed to render the form with <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym> only. So I did it; delivered. He asked me why the form wasn't submitting. I didn't know because I didn't make the plugin. In either way, the plugin was kind of a mess. Between lack of standards and lack of a plugin workflow, me and Roger didn't figure out what was happening.
-
-So what do I mean with all of this? Again, collaboration is not considered when developing. Developers assume their code is flawless and it will work. However, they don't take a look at crucial guidelines of development: (Note: I'm thinking of plugins as I write this, but any situation is perfectly suitable.)
-<h3>Logical separation</h3>
-Logic, content, generated content (different than just content), presentation and behaviour all set apart. Logic goes to one <acronym title="PHP: Hypertext Preprocessing">PHP</acronym> file, content goes to one markup file, presentation in a <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym> file, special behaviour in a <acronym title="Javascript">JS</acronym> file. Generated content can be either part of the CSS or the JS, depends on what's its purpose.
-<h3>Concerning classes…</h3>
-<em>Concerning markup, please don't drown it in classes!</em> Keep it with an all-around div with an id, most likely you won't need more, you'll most likely style the children elements from that single id. Also, don't flood it with unnecessary div's, it hardens its understanding and ... it really might be just clutter. Are they for IE? Use a <a href="http://code.google.com/p/ie7-js/">script</a> instead. The client doesn't have Javascript? Get <a href="http://firefox.com">Firefox</a>. If neither, then you don't need any div's at all.
-
-Meta-information for each feature and a short glance at the top; easy to read and above all, summarize every major feature, so a thrown in developer knows what a certain code does.
-<h3>Comments,</h3>
-In the right place. Don't just write a comment line before every single line. Only some guidelines. One practice I really like is split the logic of a function into blocks like this:
-<code>&lt;?php # Semantic block 1 {
-Code for block one goes here...
-# }
-# Semantic block 2 {
-Code for block two goes here..
-# }
-?&gt;</code>
-Some text editors like <a href="http://macromates.com">Textmate</a> have the ability to fold these kinds of blocks, which is a great visual aid in developing and first-hand comprehension.
-<h3>End of story</h3>
-<strong>Use web standards, separate each component, take advantage of semantics in comments and talk it easy.</strong> Better than a developer is one that knows how to explain what he's done. I'm sure Roger will appreciate it as well as me.
diff --git a/_posts/2008-10-29-collaboration-in-development.markdown b/_posts/2008-10-29-collaboration-in-development.markdown
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e048c71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_posts/2008-10-29-collaboration-in-development.markdown
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: Collaboration in development
+tags: [ development ]
+published: true
+---
+
+I usually write after something big approaches me. This could be no bigger:
+_collaboration is not considered when developing_. Well, at least not lately.
+Here's what happened:
+
+[Roger Byrne](http://styl.eti.me) asked me to check a plugin and help him in a
+submission form. Roger said to me that the Javascript inside the wordpress
+instalation he already had was obtrusive and he needed to render the form with
+<abbr title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</abbr> only. So I did it; I delivered.
+He asked me why the form wasn't submitting. I didn't know because I didn't make
+the plugin. In either way, the plugin was kind of a mess. Between lack of
+standards and lack of a plugin workflow, me and Roger didn't figure out what
+was happening.
+
+So what do I mean with all of this? Again, collaboration is not considered when
+developing. Developers assume their code is flawless and it will work. However,
+they don't take a look at crucial guidelines of development: (Note: I'm
+thinking of plugins as I write this, but any situation is perfectly suitable.)
+
+Logical separation
+------------------
+
+Logic, content, generated content (different than just content), presentation
+and behaviour all set apart. Logic goes to one <acronym title="PHP: Hypertext
+Preprocessing">PHP</acronym> file, content goes to one markup file,
+presentation in a <acronym title="Cascading Style Sheets">CSS</acronym> file,
+special behaviour in a <acronym title="Javascript">JS</acronym> file. Generated
+content can be either part of the CSS or the JS, depends on what's its purpose.
+
+Concerning classes…
+-------------------
+
+_Concerning markup, please don't drown it in classes!_ Keep it with an
+all-around div with an id, most likely you won't need more, you'll most likely
+style the children elements from that single id. Also, don't flood it with
+unnecessary div's, it hardens its understanding and ... it really might be just
+clutter. Are they for IE? Use a [script](http://code.google.com/p/ie7-js/)
+instead. The client doesn't have Javascript? Get [Firefox](http://firefox.com).
+If neither, then you don't need any div's at all.
+
+Meta-information for each feature and a short glance at the top; easy to read
+and above all, summarize every major feature, so a thrown in developer knows
+what a certain code does.
+
+Comments,
+---------
+
+In the right place. Don't just write a comment line before every single line.
+Only some guidelines. One practice I really like is split the logic of a
+function into blocks like this:
+
+{% highlight php %}
+<?php 
+# Semantic block 1 {
+  $this->do_something();
+# }
+# Semantic block 2 {
+  $this->object->do_something();
+# }
+?>{% endhighlight %}
+
+Some text editors like [Textmate](http://macromates.com) have the
+ability to fold these kinds of blocks, which is a great visual aid in
+developing and first-hand comprehension.
+
+End of story
+------------
+
+_Use web standards, separate each component, take advantage of semantics
+in comments and talk it easy._ Better than a developer is one that
+knows how to explain what he's done. I'm sure Roger will appreciate it as well
+as me.
diff --git a/_posts/2008-11-01-accessibility-in-real-life.html b/_posts/2008-11-01-accessibility-in-real-life.html
deleted file mode 100644
index 12b29dc..0000000
--- a/_posts/2008-11-01-accessibility-in-real-life.html
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
----
-layout: post
-title: Accessibility in real life
-tags:
-- Design
-status: publish
-type: post
-published: true
-meta:
-  _edit_last: '1'
----
-Yesterday I was at the mall trying to have lunch and I stood before two restaurants, both 30 feet away from me. I wanted to see the price tags for each restaurant and the result was the following. The shots were taken with a lousy Nokia XpressMusic but they totally say my point:
-
-<!--more-->
-
-[caption id="attachment_62" align="alignnone" width="465" caption="Accessibility 1"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-62  " title="Accessibility 1" src="http://localhost:8888/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Image043-465x620.jpg" alt="Accessibility 1" width="465" height="620" />[/caption]
-
-[caption id="attachment_63" align="alignnone" width="465" caption="Accessibility 2"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-63  " title="Accessibility 2" src="http://localhost:8888/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Image044-465x620.jpg" alt="Accessibility 2" width="465" height="620" />[/caption]
-
-The first shot says where the price is and you can actually can read something with little effor while in the last you can't even tell where the price is...!
-
-What better example than this one to show that important content must be well represented through appropriate style and positioning. <strong>Show your "price tags" big!</strong>
diff --git a/_posts/2008-11-01-accessibility-in-real-life.markdown b/_posts/2008-11-01-accessibility-in-real-life.markdown
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ebbae07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_posts/2008-11-01-accessibility-in-real-life.markdown
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: Accessibility in real life
+tags: [ design ]
+published: true
+---
+
+Yesterday I was at the mall trying to have lunch and I stood before two
+restaurants, both 30 feet away from me. I wanted to see the price tags for each
+restaurant and the result was the following. The shots were taken with a lousy
+Nokia XpressMusic but they totally say my point:
+
+![Accessibility 1](/images/Image043-465x620.jpg "Accessibility 1")
+
+![Accessibility 2](/images/Image044-465x620.jpg "Accessibility 2")
+
+The first shot says where the price is and you can actually can read something
+with little effor while in the last you can't even tell where the price is...!
+
+What better example than this one to show that important content must be well
+represented through appropriate style and positioning. **Show your "price
+tags" big!**
diff --git a/_posts/2008-11-27-facing-freelancers-a-skill-for-clients-to-master.html b/_posts/2008-11-27-facing-freelancers-a-skill-for-clients-to-master.html
deleted file mode 100644
index 67891d0..0000000
--- a/_posts/2008-11-27-facing-freelancers-a-skill-for-clients-to-master.html
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
----
-layout: post
-title: ! 'Facing freelancers: a skill for clients to master'
-tags:
-- Loadacrap
-- Personal improvement
-status: publish
-type: post
-published: true
-meta:
-  _edit_last: '1'
----
-Ever had a bad client? You know how the deal: he thinks you can read his mind and do everything he wants at the first try. Guess again.
-
-<!--more-->Today a client said to me:
-<blockquote>You've been eating too much cheese, eh José?</blockquote>
-He actually thought he was my only project - even if he was, I am not supposed to know everything, since he didn't know how to approach me in the first place and didn't write the specs of what he wanted well enough.
-
-<strong>Clients, this is the truth</strong>. We as freelancers are providing a service for you. Say specifically what service it is you want us to do, don't just fire an idea away. If you only have an idea, get it written down. Here's a couple guidelines for you when approaching us.
-<ol>
-	<li>If you can, personally reach us to discuss the idea open and friendly.</li>
-	<li>Be nice to us. We deserve good work experience too.</li>
-	<li>Always accomplish what we ask and let us do our job well.</li>
-	<li>Be ready to do whatever it takes. Remember, you're paying for the job.</li>
-	<li>Let us reach you as nicely as we would like you to reach us. The <em>worst</em> thing it can happen in such a relationship is to get chills whenever your name shows up on the screen. Word of experience.</li>
-	<li>Pay us. If you feel paying it all in a bunch is too much in your mind, set reasonable milestones.</li>
-	<li>Golden rule: if you want to hire us again, make sure we want to be hired by you again as well; we can always say no.</li>
-</ol>
-It sure sounds like I'm pushing too much on you but I'm not. It's all a matter of love and motivation. After all, if you want us to do a good job, we need to feel we're doing a good job for a good person, so <strong>spoil us</strong>! Yea, spoil us. Make us feel good and enjoying the work we're doing, we'll feel like <em>"Hey, this client deserves a treat!"</em>, rather than <em>"This guy is getting on my nerves, let me just take care of the business so I don't see his face anymore..."</em>. Smile when you're talking to us, praise us when you see progress.
-
-I had a client, <a href="http://tonyrobbins-seminars.com">Paul Kay</a>, who deserved a special award because he praised and kept motivating me so much he made me want to do his site smooth and silky, and fast too! <em>I did his website in a week</em>, for the very first time in my life. We ended up friends and he told he would love to refer me to other people because of the way he made me feel, not actually the other way around.
-
-<strong>PS</strong>: Freelancers, we should do the same thing, of course! We should praise our client for what he does and motivate him to be on track with our requests the whole time. <strong>Love is reciprocal.</strong>
diff --git a/_posts/2008-11-27-facing-freelancers-a-skill-for-clients-to-master.markdown b/_posts/2008-11-27-facing-freelancers-a-skill-for-clients-to-master.markdown
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f5c1615
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_posts/2008-11-27-facing-freelancers-a-skill-for-clients-to-master.markdown
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: ! 'Facing freelancers: a skill for clients to master'
+tags: [ loadacrap, personal improvement ]
+published: true
+---
+
+Ever had a bad client? You know how the deal: he thinks you can read his mind
+and do everything he wants at the first try. Guess again.
+
+Today a client said to me:
+
+> You've been eating too much cheese, eh José?
+
+He actually thought he was my only project - even if he was, I am not supposed
+to know everything, since he didn't know how to approach me in the first place
+and didn't write the specs of what he wanted well enough.
+
+**Clients, this is the truth.** We as freelancers are providing a service for
+you. Say specifically what service it is you want us to do, don't just fire an
+idea away. If you only have an idea, get it written down. Here's a couple
+guidelines for you when approaching us.
+
+* If you can, personally reach us to discuss the idea open and friendly.
+* Be nice to us. We deserve good work experience too.
+* Always accomplish what we ask and let us do our job well.
+* Be ready to do whatever it takes. Remember, you're paying for the job.
+* Let us reach you as nicely as we would like you to reach us. The
+  worst thing it can happen in such a relationship is to get chills
+  whenever your name shows up on the screen. Word of experience.
+* Pay us. If you feel paying it all in a bunch is too much in your mind, set
+  reasonable milestones.
+* Golden rule: if you want to hire us again, make sure we want to be hired by
+  you again as well; we can always say no.
+
+It sure sounds like I'm pushing too much on you but I'm not. It's all a matter
+of love and motivation. After all, if you want us to do a good job, we need to
+feel we're doing a good job for a good person, so **spoil us!**
+
+Yea, spoil us. Make us feel good and enjoying the work we're doing, we'll feel
+like _"Hey, this client deserves a treat!"_, rather than _"This guy
+is getting on my nerves, let me just take care of the business so I don't see
+his face anymore..."._ Smile when you're talking to us, praise us when you
+see progress.
+
+I had a client, <a href="http://tonyrobbins-seminars.com">Paul Kay</a>, who deserved a special award because he praised and kept motivating me so much he made me want to do his site smooth and silky, and fast too! <em>I did his website in a week</em>, for the very first time in my life. We ended up friends and he told he would love to refer me to other people because of the way he made me feel, not actually the other way around.
+
+<strong>PS</strong>: Freelancers, we should do the same thing, of course! We should praise our client for what he does and motivate him to be on track with our requests the whole time. <strong>Love is reciprocal.</strong>
diff --git a/_posts/2008-12-15-blogging-for-real-people.html b/_posts/2008-12-15-blogging-for-real-people.html
deleted file mode 100644
index c74d7fe..0000000
--- a/_posts/2008-12-15-blogging-for-real-people.html
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
----
-layout: post
-title: Blogging for real people
-tags:
-- Miscellaneous
-status: publish
-type: post
-published: true
-meta:
-  _edit_last: '1'
----
-Writing blog posts is already a hard task, imagine if you want to write for other people...! Let me try and share my thoughts on this, it's even a way for me to keep up with my writing habit.

-

-What better way to know what to do than taking a look at good blogs out there! I'll take some of the best that I know, if you know others please spill 'em out!.

-

-<!--more-->

-<ul>

-	<li>A <strong>catchy title</strong> should already make your brain spark inside, pretty much like this one I guess. If you have your own blog it should be a subject of your interest, or if you don't but would like to start one blog, now it's a good chance to start off pretty well!</li>

-	<li>A <strong>simple shorthand</strong> like <a href="http://avalonstar.com">Bryan Veloso</a>'s is a killer, I just love to know what the post is all about with a simple touch of uniqueness. Like a newspaper, every article always has a shorthand to let the reader know if the article is of his interest or not without reading it all.</li>

-	<li>I don't need to say that grammar should be checked before publishing a post, but more important than that is actually <strong>providing a story line</strong> that enhances its reading in the way that readers enjoy a story more than loose thoughts. This way you even create more reasonable means to actually understand the post's content and it sticks in people's mind.</li>

-	<li><strong>Images / videos</strong> support an idea like nothing else does. I guess I don't need to say anything else.</li>

-	<li>There's also another thing that I found lately and I find of the upmost importance: <strong>the text to read should be visually appealing</strong>.

-<ul>

-	<li>I used to have a dark purple <em>background</em> under white text and it was not the best idea I came up with because it was freaking hard to read.</li>

-	<li>Not just the colors, <em>whitespace</em> should be taken into consideration.</li>

-</ul>

-These really play a big role for me. <a href="http://mezzoblue.com">Dave Shea</a>'s blog is a great example on this matter.</li>

-</ul>

-How about yourself? Do you have any other details you take into consideration? Should you have a certain blog you find readable, leave your contribution!
diff --git a/_posts/2008-12-15-blogging-for-real-people.markdown b/_posts/2008-12-15-blogging-for-real-people.markdown
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5b6bce
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@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: Blogging for real people
+tags: [ miscellaneous ]
+published: true
+---
+
+Writing blog posts is already a hard task, imagine if you want to write for
+other people...! Let me try and share my thoughts on this, it's even a way for
+me to keep up with my writing habit.
+
+What better way to know what to do than taking a look at good blogs out there!
+I'll take some of the best that I know, if you know others please spill 'em
+out!.
+
+* A <strong>catchy title</strong> should already make your brain spark inside,
+  pretty much like this one I guess. If you have your own blog it should be a
+  subject of your interest, or if you don't but would like to start one blog,
+  now it's a good chance to start off pretty well!
+* A <strong>simple shorthand</strong> like [Bryan
+  Veloso](http://avalonstar.com)'s is a killer, I just love to know what the
+  post is all about with a simple touch of uniqueness. Like a newspaper, every
+  article always has a shorthand to let the reader know if the article is of
+  his interest or not without reading it all.
+* I don't need to say that grammar should be checked before publishing a post,
+  but more important than that is actually **providing a story line** that
+  enhances its reading in the way that readers enjoy a story more than loose
+  thoughts. This way you even create more reasonable means to actually
+  understand the post's content and it sticks in people's mind.
+* **Images / videos** support an idea like nothing else does. I
+  guess I don't need to say anything else.
+* There's also another thing that I found lately and I find of the upmost
+  importance: **the text to read should be visually appealing.**
+  - I used to have a dark purple _background_ under white text and it
+    was not the best idea I came up with because it was freaking hard to read.
+  - Not just the colors, _whitespace _should be taken into
+    consideration.
+
+These really play a big role for me. [Dave Shea](http://mezzoblue.com)'s blog
+is a great example on this matter.
+
+How about yourself? Do you have any other details you take into consideration?
+Should you have a certain blog you find readable, leave your contribution!