Heard it on the news few minutes ago, MBC has a new web site since yesterday (yes, AGAIN!)
Anyway, I find it nice, much better than the previous versions
This shows once more that wordpress really rocks!
To whom it may concern, a few things which need a small fix under Firefox 3.0:
- The drop down menu is hidden by the video player when you want to play something
- Remove the rating indicator near the post title while viewing it. It is confusing since the user cannot actually click on it. He/She must scroll down to be able to rate the page.
A final note, it is a good thing that they have hosted it on a Mauritian server, lets hope that the server can handle all those requests n streaming… Oops, a few minutes, the database connection was lost, probably due to high traffic 🙂
So, what do you think about the new site, powered by the blogging platform WordPress?
Yashvinblogs 
@Vicks
I actually like reading comments like yours. Thanks mate. 🙂
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@ Akash: Just would like to point out that my tweet did not refer to MBC’s site, but instead another website. Which IMHO has no link with this post.
And like you mentioned “Il faut de tout pour faire un monde!”
P.S: Don’t just be biassed by only one tweet!
Cheers
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I personally think that most of the comments are off-track. The debate shouldnt be about the “Designer & coder” ‘s technical competences or ability when it comes to web designing.
The question we must ask ourselves is why in 2010, the national tv station has chosen to get its website done for FREE?? What is reason or motive behind this??
1. Is it because the station is in financial trouble?? (surement nepli ena assez cass acoz ban droit exhorbitant in bisin payer pou ban program “HIGH” quality passer lor station la?? soit ban million in bisin payer pou ban match Premier league ki passer sak samedi/dimanche??
O vu batiment ki p monter reduit, pa paret ena recession pou banla!
2. si pena assez cass, ban largent nou payer 100rs par mois/ droit publicitaire etc? kot in aller???
3. Choisir 1 group jeune de l’université pou fer website la benevolement mo ti kav comprend. Mais choisir 1 dimoune de la mem famille ki DG la??? pena conflit d’interet kelke part??? meme si c pou “FREE”?? ki motif choisir so neveu?? fer de la publicité pou so carriere web designer??
4. Normalment pena 1 board ki bisin decide ban zafer coumsa?? pa kapav 1 DG choisir so famille pou fer 1 website for “FREE”. Eski mbc ena 1 panel artistic ki juge sa??
5. Si ene institution couma mbc cote nou payer sak mois choisir fer so website “FREE” par neveu directeur, be tou institution de ce genre a maurice kapav adopter mem politik….pou cut cost!!
@ “Designer & coder” : mo pa conne toi, mo pa juge to travail non plu,
politik adopter par mbc ki mise en cause la.
a bon entendeur….
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Hmm.. its kind of already horrible as it is.. a bunch of ppl arguing again over the insignificant works [or stolen material whatever], of an insignificant being … who on top on that is an insignificant coder :p…
p.s your website is vulnerable, let’s just hope others don’t notice it….
+selven
//a god
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Mo full dakord avec c ki @din3sh pe dire
probleme la pas avec @Akash ki mo salue pou so perzerance pou defand so cause mais mo persister pou dire li pas encore ene vrai professional (li rappel moi ene tonton ki ti pe trace tracer avec ban probleme plomberie et ki apres li fine gagne 2/3 client ti declare li plombier)
@Akash ena ene tas ambition et mo comprend kifer li fine decide faire sa pou free. Probleme c MBC. ene bel compagnie comme sa pe mardaye pou paye ene web designer et pire li prend ene en freelance ki ena 24 ans – pas conner comma sa eter partout mais ici cot mo rester ban la malheureusement ti pou rier to dans figure si toutseul to ti pe rode repond ene appel d’offre comme sa.
@Akash mo ti a content to decrire nous comma sa projet la fine passer. Combien reunion to fine gagner avec equipe direction mbc, ki cahier des charges ti ena, comma to fine convaincre zot to ti meilleur (ki methodologie travail to utiliser….)
c ki malheureux dans tout sa c ki quand to trouve cyberisland partout dans zournal et ki apres to trouve limportance mbc pe donner pou so site web to pose toi ena tas question
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@din3sh @chege i completely agree with you both.
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@Chaya
Don’t worry, I’ve seen plenty of your tweets. I don’t make judgements based on one item only. Unlike some here. So you can save your explanation.
@Dinesh
You would have to ask them that.
@Selven
Just by looking at your website url (www.thegodof.net), I can see how everyone and everything apart from yourself are insignificant in your life. Don’t you get tired of loving yourself that much??
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@krishtika
Maybe you should learn the meaning of the acronym stfu.
Thx.
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” @Josh’s evaluation of the website interface should be redirected to WordPress. Maybe he’s the best in the world in terms of design and user interaction. Does he mean he should be designing all the websites in the world? ”
@Girish
1. Pretentious and contentious, Wow so much for the smug. Don’t be a Bono! Saying something is one thing, knowing that something is another thing. You seem completely unfamiliar with WordPress, well if you are not aware; wordpress is at default packed with one if not a few templates. Akash has used a CUSTOM template. Do you know that word? Custom? In this context, it means another template, other than wordpress stock templates.
I supposed you should be getting the idea by now? Custom template = custom code ( or in this case tweaked/customized codes). WordPress has no jurisdiction here, so not wordpress work to undertake the changes i have shown.
2.Coming to the MySQL extension, WordPress still uses it to assure compatibility. Unfortunately, some lame ass hosts are still sticked with early versions of PHP4, and if i am not mistaken MySQLi was integrated with PHP5 when the team re-worked on the OOP section.
As MBC most probably has a “decent” host, it should be easy to hack the data abstraction layer in wordpress and change it with a custom MySQLi one.
3. I NEVER said I was the best in UI/UX stuffs. you, dolt! If i wanted to design all the websites in the world, would i be giving my advices here freely? Everything you said is just a vichyssoise of vacuous words.
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@Akash: Just a small advice. If I were you, I wouldn’t f*ck with Selven. The guy knows what he’s saying. 🙂
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It seems that akash can’t explain why he has been chosen to build the new web site and how he convinced the mbc board. Is it possible to have someone from the mbc to explain why akash as been chosen and why he has not been paid ? Is there any journalist who can investigate these issues ?
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Wai akash fer ene demars remet tou ban episode balad dan vilaz lor site la.
balad dan vilaz c sel innovation mbc ine fer depi k2000. 🙂
mo recommane sa emmission a tou dimoune ki contan moris.
ek wai, eski kikaine conner pu download ban stream wmv? flash facile mais wmv mari kas tet.
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@Akash: I am trying to be arrogant?? lol My first comment was about my own user experience of the MBC website (read it again), and you couldn’t take the criticism as a man. Instead you start saying that you are profiting anyway because I browse the local newspaper websites. Who’s trying to be smart??
Refer to my first comment. The others here might be pounding you using their technical knowledge, but I am giving you feedback based on my simple experience of the website and you are trying to be smart?? I didn’t even accuse of being the reason why the website is crap. Who’s being arrogant?? You are even telling me to grow up?? Dude, you should have a long hard look at yourself first. If you can’t take criticism, then don’t call yourself a professional.
Are you saying that no-one can find the MBC website crap?
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Why are so many people repeating that the site has this thing bad, that bad, vulnerable… We’ve been seeing that since early posts. Some constructive comments would be better…
Seeing how bland and villain the new MBC building looks from outside, I wonder if the website would have been better had they opted to pay thousands to a big company to do their site. That company would have been so frustrated with the lack of people who know how to differentiate between a beautiful building and a bland one. I guess they really needed someone with full freedom to have something better than the old website. ‘pe gagne gratis, laisse li faire sa ki li envi… si li bon nu ava met met.’ But think if they were paying for it…
Now that MBC can get feedback and see the difference with a good website, may be they’ll be willing to invest at least some of that advertising revenue next time.
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Good job Akash….its better than the old website ! ! ! & JKC Rulz.
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@akash..
😀 you can’t when you are perfect 🙂
🙂 you sure you have seen thegodof.net deeply? :p have a second glance 🙂
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@Inf
I’m not f*cking with him. I got my gf for that. 😛
@All the rest
Perhaps you would have been happier if they had paid me Rs 31 million (Mauritius, c’est du plaisir rings a bell?) to build a website will all the bells & whistles that you see on other major media websites? Gratis si zot plaigner.. Fouf.. mon plein repon mwa..
Thanks Yashvin for opening this debate up. For me personally it was very enriching. Opened my eyes on a lot of things.
If anyone of you would like to contact me personally, email me.
Cheers. 🙂
Akash
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I’m not very savvy concerning web design. So, I think that the website is okay. I’ve tried the streaming feature and it’s fine. I was watching infozen and suddenly they showed a part which deals with nails (En plus, ti ena 1 l’homme ti p fer soigne so ban fingernails svp :p). So, I dragged the bar to another part and it still worked fine. The streaming is fast and there are no breaks for buffering or whatever. Moreover, in IE, the streams can be watched in fullscreen. I could not find the button. The tip is to right-click on the player and drag the cursor on ‘zoom’ – The fullscreen option pops up et voila. My rating : Since I’ve seen a big change in the website’s appearance, I give it a generous 7.5/10
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Why the HELL these people who are criticizing negatively the work of Akash don’t understand one thing?? Even if a “big and professional” company would have been selected among many by the MBC board, STILL, YES STILL lots of people will keep on criticizing (this is wrong, this is bad, wrong positioning, size not appropriate, wrong color selection, wrong theme, round corner not displaying well, cross-browser issues, blablabla.. the old and classical dialogues of the internet geeks! Most of them would be developers, interface designers (coders), graphic designers, testers, optimization ppl, etc.. The reason is obvious, some would like it sweet, others spicy, some salty! Everyone got their own taste!! And I agree with this!
HOWEVER, there will always be some sharks that would completely disagree with the dish, because they would have preferred that the dish would have been cooked by them! I completely condemned such attitude, and I’ve seem some ppl here adhering to this principle. It is SAD indeed.
What the HELL is your problem if this guy happened to be related with the DG and have been given this chance??? His luck!! Can’t you bear seeing some people making progress???
Concerning the issue of “Designed and coded” part, he did ACKNOWLEDGED CLEARLY that he was wrong and will change it, as someone proposed “customized…”, as soon as he will have accessed to the site. Some people proposed good stuffs like blog, forum, etc…
One last issue. TREAT THIS AS IMPORTANT IF YOU MEAN ALL U’VE SAID!!! If you are against and when clarification about how the board accepted his service, then tomorrow morning send a letter with your name below and sign it to the MBC asking for clarification!
I didn’t plan to submit a comment, but some people here are filling my Inbox with full of stupid and unclaimed arguments!!
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I think this is very relevant to the discussion: http://xkcd.com/386/
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@Josh Your English is so great that I had to check a few words u used in the dictionary eh.
U sure are right about my knowledge of WordPress – never worked with it. But I do know the word ‘Custom’ more than u understand the word ‘Arrogant’.
we don’t play in the same playground Josh, if u wanna talk show urself first.
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@ zorro
<>
bear people making progress??? wot u think?? we all are jealous of ur guy?? lolllll
i sense misplaced anger in ur comments. i said its not a personal attack. even the guy himself didnt have much to say abt that… cant you read??
Its not about being lucky or making progress i was talking… according to ur reasoning, tomorrow any institution in mauritius can get their websites done for free by someone “happening to be related to the Director.”
yeah i guess u were right…am jealous of that guy’s work…and that awesome website 🙂
sorry i cant bear to see him “progress”
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@Everyone
Can we please cut the bullshit for one second and be serious? I actually need your help here.
I’ve integrated an instant view feature that allows you to view all the videos right from the homepage just by clicking on the play button. The problem is it works fine with Firefox but not with IE. IE bizarrely (or is it really bizarre?) won’t play the video in the instant view but if you click on the post title and go to the single post page, there it will play fine. I’ve tried everything – to no avail.
Anyway, here’s the code I’ve used to embed the wmv file: http://www.akashcallikan.com/videocode.txt. Notice the if !IE part which should really have taken care of the cross-browser issues.
If anyone’s got a solution, I’d be glad to hear from them. If not, well feel free to criticise this initiative as well. Rien ne me surprend plus de toute facon…
Akash
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@Akash
Honestly i have no idea on this one, just try separating the two objects,
try this http://pastebin.org/104065
If you could upload a demo on your site, to show actual data that would be great.
@girish
Sarcasm and irony, what a nice combination! One question for you, If my english is so great, how would i not be able to understand the word ‘arrogant’.
” we don’t play in the same playground Josh, if u wanna talk show urself first.”
I thought you were a grown up, oh my bad, i do not play, i work. Hmm and how could i show myself? You wanna be my friend or foe on Facebook maybe? Anyways I am kind enough to upload a photo of myself, here it is;
This is the Internet! And you are completely drifting away from the topic, so am I; trying to reason you.
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ROFLMAO!!!
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Good morning to all of you.
A bit off topic, but I need to share this.
The blog received 200% visitors yesterday and the stats for the last 3 days were great too. Thanks to all of you for your active participation and for bringing forward constructive and meaningful comments.
This said, be part of the blog by joining the fan page here : http://www.facebook.com/yashvinblogs
Have a nice week everyone,
Cheers!
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godofnet in bien dire to 1 insignificant toi akash callican. coment to pe kaav change configiration ban video la lor site mbc mais to pe pretan to pa kaav change design by akash callican la? aret prend dimoun pou boufon man
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@Salim
That’s simple enough. It’s because I have access to the WordPress admin but not to FTP. To change the footer, I would need to modify the footer.php file. Whereas to change the video configuration, it’s right on the ‘edit post’ page. To pa trouver vrai meme to p passe pou ene bouffon aster? Ca em mo dire penser avant zot kozer.
@Josh
It didn’t work. It was actually worse. Firefox didn’t load the video at all. Thanks for the effort though.
Anyone else?
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@Akash : If you have access to the wordpress admin, then it is easy to modify the template file.
Go to “Appearance > Editor”
Then choose footer.php.
That’s it! 🙂
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@Yashvin
You really think I wouldn’t know that Yashvin? 😉
The files aren’t writable. Again, what do I need to make them writable? FTP.
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@Akash : I just proposed a solution.
To IT Department (if ever they read this) :
Anyways, kindda strange. You have admin access to their official site, but no ftp rights.
I would blame the IT Department here, why would they need to give administration access to one part only to someone outside the official company staff?
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@Yashvin
I know.
It’s because they’re new to this system. So I was asked to keep an eye on their work for the first few weeks… just to help them run it smoothly. And for that I didn’t need access to FTP but only to WP admin.
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Was just given FTP access. Changed the footer wording.
Akash
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MBC TV pa passe Paris – Nice Live. Ti kapave o moins met bann stages la lor So site Web. Kumsa pou bann seki kuma moi ki content get Cyclisme. Mo ti pu happy :p
En passant. Depi ki sa nuvo web site la on. Mo pa p rat Le Journal de 19.30 😉
Mo pa kone si Information ti available lor ancient website MBC. En tu ka seki mo sir, Sann site la attrayant. Li fer mwa envi visite li. Ancient la mem mo browser IE 6.0 pa ti li ouvert li 😉
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@Akash To pe servi Alexa comme ene metric pou mesure success bannes sites , ki alright mo penser mais nous tout conne cuma li facile rente dans classement Alexa et en plus bannes CMS to rouler zot lor bannes sites ki donne contenus quotidiennement. Pas bisin ene expert pou conner ki : plis ena contenus = plis li facile ranked = contenus amene traffic. Donc to pena narien a faire avec volume traffic ki influence rang la.
Apres mo trouver tone ignore seki mone dire net la haut concernant bannes zistoire CMS la? Seki mone dire pure mensonge sa ki?
En resumer but la ti pas touche to ego mais fer toi comprend capow fer plis ki modifier des trucs et merite vine sans demander si to bon mo penser dans place tappe letomac dire.
Hors Topic:
@Zorro Dapres to logique bisin ene docteur pou conner si leker ine arrete bâter?
Si site MBC ti kitchose de l’excellence mo pas penser dimoune ti pou exprimer ici. Change ene theme wordpress pas dire narien sa a mes yeux.
En plus jamais mone lire ene papier signer Zorro par contre contacter moi mo capow montrer toi seki moi mon fer 🙂 … cuma to pe trouver mo impe dans enta demars mais seki relatif a toi nu capow partager.. a cose dans partager ki ena appranne.
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alalila……yashvin……wat a post!…..tout ban blogger finn coumence exciT depi to finn met sa l’article lors MBC la…..manque seulement Bijaye Madhoo so ban comments……mo esperE ki to l’article lor fam met pli nissa encore……n zats y ur No 1 blogger of Mauritius(.mu)
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oh now the tone has changed, now bloggers r bringing solutions to the one who designed and created the website… comme ban vrai mauritian. so it should be designed by XxX and add ons le peuple mauricien.
🙂
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First of all , kudos for Yashvin for posting this thread. It has indeed been an eye opener for most of us. One can clearly conclude that decent web related work is and will never be based on meritocracy but rather on one’s surname or contacts as clearly demonstrated.
Akash Callikan is without doubt a script kiddie and just a mere amateur.
My grandma always used to say ‘voleur tout letemps quit trace mo piti et tot ou tard li gagne trapper’
His latest work http://theindependent.mu is clearly a copy of http://www.woothemes.com/demo/?name=daily-edition
>> LOL
From the CSS file :
http://theindependent.mu/wp-content/themes/dailyedition/style.css
Description: The Independent Daily is a theme created by Akash Callikan for Le Matinal.
I think you should sue Woothemes , they copied from you Akash Callikan 🙂
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Did you know that you can actually buy from Woothemes, Morisienne? Did you know that you can also buy footer credits?
To grand-mere pan dir twa n lot zafer? “Dimoun zalou koz kozer nek dimoun c ki p progresser.. c ki insignifiant pena nanyen pou kozer lor zot” 😉
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Oh my god… mbc website is really like all the mcb programme. It is a shame to see such a website produce in Mauritius.
Sorry for the “designer” of MBC website, but you really need to update about websitew standard. Buy the smashingmagazine book plz : http://shop.smashingmagazine.com/smashing-book-intl.html
THnks.
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Ayo mari lente sa website ….
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Hey Akash! Nice job man!
Mo truV ena boukou dimune zalou tw ici ein..mais pa kass tet, kan dimune zalou twa, sa v dir to p progresser!!! 😉
website la seryer net! Mo ti passe dan sa premier emission infozen la, mo ti p envi re guet mw ene cou! lol..alors mone visite website la..
Mwa j’aime..:-p
cheers…
p.s Continue the great work! n good luck in life!
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Right, where do I start?? This interested me:
just because people still use Internet Explorer. (Yes, even today!) – as IE is the most popular browser on the planet, this comment alone smacks of unprofessionalism at worst or complete ignorrence at best.
The template is a rip off.
The layout is cluttered and about as user-friendly as a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
You are the nephew of the MD – whether you paid for it or not this is corruption as it is giving you an unfair advantage over other prospective webdesigners, some who might even know how to write code and design sites from the ideas in their own heads – The ICAC has been informed and I expect huge repercussions because of this, whether you were paid or not, it is still corruption and shows the true nature of MBC management.
The user experience has not been considered at all and unfortunately, this was widespread between 1995 and 2000 when too many bedroom web designers tried to design websites for corporations. Just because you can make a flaming or a spinning Gif does not make you a webdesigner or even a web customiser!
The website is worse than the one it replaced and MBC can only do one thing to save their professional reputation, they have to put out a tender for a new site, designed from scratch and to which they hold all legal copyright. You cannot put a public body or a private corporation for that matter, into a situation where copyright is disputed, whether you have purchased a licence or not, unless the licence was purchased by MBC and they hold the title document, it is again coroption as unfortunately, you are the legal copyright holder should you hold this licence and as such, MBC are currently indebted to you for this and this is not a good place for a public body to be in.
Before you even think of starting, my background is in IT BUT I am not a webdesigner anymore, I gave that up in 2005, nor do I have a company which could tender for any website. I am however, a qualified and certified IT professional with over 12 years experience, I hold Microsoft, VMware and Symantec certifications as well as a degree in software engineering from a UK university. My points are valid and based on experience, facts and the law, some of which you would serve well to read up on.
I am going to get off my soapbox now. I accept that the MBC does not need a BBC-esque website but it also, does not need anything which causes problems or is of such poor design as to induce headaches to viewers.
I know this comment will cause a number of people to comment but this has not been a personal attack so please, if you have any professional criticism it is welcomed, personal attacks will be dealt with accordingly.
Regards
Mat
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That’s a hard one, I can understand where Mat gets all those points, but saying that the old site was better? You need to get yourself updated…
A really valuable website to learn about web design – Smashing Magazine – http://www.smashingmagazine.com
That’s what I recommend to all web designers, newbie and experienced.
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@ BHOOT:
Please allow me to explain further, when I said the old website was better, it was actually a website and not a blog template, it was not of questionable licencing and it was not giving rise to any nepotism or corruption which now puts the MBC in an uncomfortable and embarrassing situation. Whether the layout and content was better is up for discussion but it wasn’t the political and legal minefield the current blog is 🙂
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Mat, even the most dumb guy could tell that the previous website used a blog template. Are you being purposely blind? Or do you just like picking on others? Get a life!
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@diya:
Ah but again, it seems I have a point you are destined to miss. You say it was a blog template, how long had it been online? When blogs were JUST starting, someone had created what was THEN, quite a modern website, whether you like the interface or not, it was almost ahead of its time and again I will repeat that there were no licencing issues and no nepotism or corruption. As a webdesigner, if in fact you are one, you will no doubt be happy to produce a funky website which people like, I on the other hand, having moved through the ranks to senior management have the unenviable and legal responsibilities to ensure all work is legal, infringes no copyright, is properly licensed AND I also have to ensure that people like you (people at the sharp end of development) produce what is required by the client TO the client’s specifications. That there are no platitudes, ommissions or ambiguities in the client brief and that the client is happy.
I would like to point out that I am not talking about web projects here but enterprise implementations of CRM, ERP and other enterprise systems, web design does not form a part of my role in any way, except where it is the interface for such systems.
As for getting a life, I have one thank you, a very nice one in fact, if you had offended me with your final words, I would probably patronise you in some shape or form but Idoubt you would know what it meant.
Now I am going to get on with my, rather nice life, thank you for your concern over my life, it is appreciated and I already feel that we have become very close friends, I am in fact looking forward to your invitation to dinner at your house, should I bring anything? I told some friends about how close we have become and of your concern for my well being and they too are looking forward to coming round to your house for dinner, perhaps we could have a barbeque, I could bring some beef and pork steaks which we could all wash down with copious amounts of Phoenix beer and goodwill rum because I wish you nothing but goodwill.
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@akash callikan .. John john the best.. to koner twa 🙂 lolz.. hmm pa kass tet ek bane comments la twa .. rouler em sa .. mais bon .. I am blogger since a long time, and I have seen many better blogs.. However, mo pou add ki for free and taking into account that doing a job for someone else enkore .. you cannot do it with that much pleasure as most bloggers make their websites.. so, Congrats for the job.
@all – Kan zotte capave prove yourselves and after doing free jobs for companies and that you are OPEN to critics and furthermore you are interested in designing “to help” and for free.. then you can come back and criticize .. and in that sense .. if u do come back dear people..I would be glad that you design a nice template for my blog 🙂 you can check my blog by clicking on my name i suppose .. do check it and do propose me with something if you have been criticizing akash 🙂
Cheerz to all,
Looking forward for your templates for my blog,
Ashfaq :))
P.S thanks yashvin, grace a toi petet mo pou gagne 1 top website template for free la 🙂 niahahaha lolzz
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@Akash : Sorry for the swear words which has just been approved. I messed up with the comments on wordpress. Deleting it immediately. I have got in touch with the person whose email add is associated with this comment. Has his/her IP too.
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MBC server is quite good….i thing i liked about it…when i download videos from MBC’s website,i get full download speed @ 275kbps….zats gr8
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