in-depth

Anna's Thursday - After saying sayonara to EX'pressive (and all her other sites at noir-atesaki.com); Anna strikes back with Thursday - which is a combination of all her old sites. Yep, Thursday's a mix of the old portfolio we knew as EX'pressive, plus her blog + reviews. And as with her previous sites (Allay Pain as well!), Anna/Sakimo still impresses with her designing. But what takes the cake is that she's also a very nice and bubbly person to boot. Wahey, what am I doing with my babble - why not go click and see for yourself.

Millah's Dies Irae - I don't work well with dark colors, but I wish I could. 0_0 But while I dream, Sarissa us all (okay, just me xD) in that scope, evoking that mysterious feel in her designs. =) Sarissa and I also share quite a bit in common; both of us having taken a break from the webdesign community for a bit for the same reasons. At least we came around and realised how much fun we were missing out on xD Anyhow, Dies Irae is a fun bundle of mystery just waiting to be enjoyed. Go click!


Ryuku's Dis-Order - I remember Ryuku from my days at the Angelcloud.net Forums, with her then-site Star Scrapbook. But I then drifted out of AC.net and the design community in general. In the weeks before my comeback, I was surfing around and noticed that she's gone from LeahKimito (in the S-S days) to Ryuku, and Dis-Order is nothing like her previous efforts - it's soooo much better. Who would've guessed that she would apply for affiliation at Surrealle? In a nutshell, I was elated; and now I'm commanding you guys to go click. I personally love her premade layouts and avatars. =)

be here?

You may know this as "affiliation"; however, I've come to realised that the standards of the word have never been clear cut. From "business-only" to "close-designer-friends" to "designers-I-admire-who-have-also-linked-back", the debate has raged on. And some sites made a big fuss out of things by criticizing others' affiliation rules/requirements. My, my.

I wasn't spared - the last time Winter Skies was up, my affiliation *choke* requirements were rather choosy. They've been critiqued, and no doubt you'd want to scrutinise my current criteria as well. I've done the legwork for you, though; so stop guessing. (By the way, I'm not trying to be "holier-than-thou" by avoiding the word.)

// No doubt I'd like to link to sites which have at least some graphic resources. By that, I mean not strictly portfolio. Doesn't have to be premade layouts (I'm not a fan of making those either) but at least avatars, wallpapers etc. would be nice. It doesn't matter if you're fully-resource like Aethereality or if you're somewhat a hybrid (in the making) like mine.

// Do your thing (whatever it is) - and excel at it. Of course you'll need talent - but I'm not biased or looking for just a certain style. I'm sure not everyone can vector, blend seamlessly, do splatter-grunge all over and still pull it off extremely well - or all of the above. Neither can everyone be good at making avatars/wallpapers/layouts. As long as you've found your niche and are truly happy with it, it'll show in your site work. No need to conform to unreasonable demands; though versatility is a plus. =)

// Well...stay off those free hosts. Either be located on a domain or a subdomain, please. Besides, there are plenty of kind domain owners offering free hosting (including mine @ yoakemae.net) - free hosts give me viruses as well. (No, .tk domains don't fool me.) If you are hosted on a freeserver, maybe you should try getting hosted before applying. ^^;;

// At least be compatible with all major browsers. Okay, not just so I'll be happy - but if you're catering to others, I'm sure you'd want to make sure that everyone who accesses your site can view it properly. Minor errors are fine though (I'll even help you out with them.)

// Nothing with negative images, please. Goes without saying that I mean porn/nudity, hate, insult, and all that jazz. There's enough drama offline; keep it there.

// Be nice. I like to be able to relate to my "affiliates" (or in my terms, loved ones) nicely. Have decent nettiquette - and of course, cussing/spamming anywhere puts me off.

In a nutshell, "affiliation" *cough* with Surrealle.com requires a good balance between character and skills; though I'll admit I lean a bit towards the PEOPLE behind the site - not purely talent. But if I do drop you, it'll be for a good reason. Usually it'll be because we've grown apart personally; but in any case I'll explain why. I do reply to all applications - the same goes for rejections, but if you hate rejection letters and want me to be quiet, inform me.

If my not-so-good brain is iffy but I like you and your site, I'll invite you to exchange links - but do tell me if you'd accept that or not.

Just drop me a line to apply. (Refer to "Contact" at the sidebar) Limited to 5-8 spots - give or take 1 unless within reason. And by the way - NO REQUESTS OVER MSN if we're not THAT close; that's just plain rude.


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