The Great Friendster CSS/Video Frenzy

Whoa…

Ever since Friendster decided to offer the new features last week, there has been a virtual gold rush in the works, and it is slowly escalating as I write this.  Everyone and his mother are jazzing up their profiles like crazy.  Unfortunately, in terms of hit-or-miss, there are significantly more misses than hits…

I was wary of those blinding neon colored text on black backgrounds, but I didn’t count on absurd image backgrounds that look absolutely hideous when they tile on bigger resolutions… based on what I’ve seen, I’m guessing majority of the members are using 1024×768 resolutions (or, god forbid, even less!).  I’m using 1280×1024, so almost every profile I visited had their image backgrounds tiling up, which makes the profile just.. well, to put it very, very nicely… BUTT-FUCKIN-UGLY!

I guess I’ve seen the whole gamut:  people using their desktop wallpaper as page backgrounds, some even using ANIMATED images for backgrounds (that kind of thing should be considered a crime, damnit!).  There are also people who have creative ways of choosing text and/or link colors (and I mean "creative" in the worst possible way).  The fact that the background images makes their profile text almost impossible to read (unless you take the extra effort to scroll up or down and try to read it against the brighter areas of the background image) seem to escape some of these people.  I mean, come on!  You want people to read your profile or just look at the "pretty" pictures?  The time I spend on Friendster profiles this week has drastically decreased, coz either I can’t read em, or I can’t take em.

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And regarding the use of video feeds in profiles… hmmm…  (the next few paragraphs are outright rants, so if you’re easily offended by colorful language, skip it… now)

Jaysus chroist… some people put TWO or THREE videos, and they all play at the same fuckin’ time!  WHAT THE FUCK!  Do you live in a fuckin’ electronics store, buddy?  Can you even watch and listen to three fuckin videos and fuckin enjoy it?  Do you even think that’s even remotely "kewl"?  You do?  Fuck you!

Haha, need to get ahold of myself here…

It’s bad enough that I have to sit through some lame-ass music video, but making me watch more than one is like the owner giving me the finger for visiting his/her profile.  And you know what’s worse?  Multiple videos on an animated background.  What the fuck?  Have you actually tried watching your shit in that setup?  The video blinks like crazy, and my browser is always on the verge of crashing.  What, it doesn’t bother you?  What, you have a fuckin supercomputer at home, buddy?  Fuck you!

Geez man… I thought I escaped Myspace hell, but the same thing is happening to Friendster…

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Whew, I’m done ranting.  Sorry for appearing all high-and-mighty here, but as a web designer, it really ups my blood pressure to see such irresponsible use of code.  A little common sense, please.  You can do whatever the hell you want with your page, but don’t expose us to garbage.  For the love of God, Montresor, pass the fuckin’ Amontillado!

If you are interested in customizing your own profile, but don’t know how or where to begin, check out this great site:
http://www.cubancouncil.com/friendster/

It allows newbies and the uninitiated to generate the CSS code they need in order to change the colors of their profiles.  But as with everything else, use it responsibly.  This is supposed to make things easier, not to create more fashion disasters.  Have pity on all of us who would visit your profile :(

Now that we got that out of the way, I’d like to say that I had a lotta fun customizing my own profile.  I didn’t want it too be overly fancy, but I didn’t want it to be too plain either.  So I went with dark, slick and, well, PINOY (hahaha, what the fuck does that mean?).

You can go check it out if you haven’t yet.  Just click on my fiendishly berserk portrait on the right.  And lemme know what you think!

If you think I deserve to win an iPod for it, by all means, bookmark it and make it a visible bookmark so I can personally thank you :)   But only do it if you really like it.  I won’t whore for bookmarks just to get a measly iPod, y’know.

Hmmm, I got a lot of posts to do to catch up for lack of entries…  Stay tuned!