5ft Creatives

We started off growing the FFW Community network a few months back on the Ning Network and recently with the launch of FFW Ver 1.3, we migrated to the Facebook platform for our Community Stuff.

Today, we are officially removing the FFWNetwork on Ning.com and all efforts will focus on our Facebook platform. Do visit our Facebook FFW group and stay connected!:)
FFW on Facebook

See you there!

At first we thought its just a case of a very slow internet connection and then we got an email from our friendly webhosting company telling us that our MySQL server is maxing out its capacity. Its a pleasant surprise as it means that more and more people are reading & finding out about fivefootway and 5ft Creatives.

We’ve gladly upgraded our servers and walking on the fivefootway should be quite a breeze and speedy now.No more crowded fivefootway:) Enjoy walking!

We are proud to tell you that FFW is going to Ver 1.3! Most of the changes to this has been under the hood and also with the ultimate aim of making a visit to FFW a better experience. Here’s a brief outline of what is coming up..

13 January 2008- FFW ver 1.3 (alpha release)
- Launch V1.3a (for internal testing and reviews)
- Commence re-formatting of older articles
- Build up knowledge base/faq sections for new release
- Tweak CSS codes to be compatible with IE6

27 January 2008- FFW ver 1.3 (beta release)
- Launch V1.3b (go live on www.fivefootway.com)
- All articles up to November 2007 re-formatted to new format
- New editorial sections in FFW to be introduced

10 February 2008- FFW ver 1.3 (full release)
- V1.3 to be fully operational with changes fully implemented.
- Commence reviews for building into 1.31

Having said that, here’s what you can expect from it.

Easier on the eyes.

We haven’t gone on a major visual revamp (at least not for this version). But some notable changes are still in place.

• More information on the front page. An excerpt of 3 latest posts from each section is now on the front page, giving more exposure to each article
• The different sections of the magazine have a new look. When clicking on a section such as ‘Feature’, the articles are now listed with a thumbnail and a short excerpt of each one beside it. This more compact view allows more posts to be viewed on a single page.
• We’ve tried to ensure that formatting of the various posts in FFW are now cleaner and more consistent.

A Better Reading Experience.

We would like you to enjoy walking on the FiveFootWay. So, we’ve introduced the following:

• Share an article. It is now easier to do it with the “Share on Facebook” option, “Email to Friend” option and also old school “Print It” option.
• When reading an article, you will see that a list of Related Posts and Latest Posts now appear on the sidebar. Useful when you want to keep on reading more stuff in FFW.
• Paginated Posts. No one likes reading and scrolling down a page that lasts forever. So, we introduce paginated posts to you.

From the Editorial Desk

We’ve always believed that FFW should be about quality articles and a great community so, we’ve taken this opportunity to introduced some changes and improvements into FFW to move towards achieving that aim.

• Group@Facebook is now live. Go on, get on Facebook and join the group! Share photos, upload videos, discuss and just network. (we are discontinuing the FFW network at ning. com and migrating everything over.)
• Want to get to know more about the people who writes for FFW? We thought you might so we’ve got Author Information better integrated into the site.Now every article comes with an excerpt of the author at the end. Also, when you click on the author name, ALL the posts that he/she have written will be displayed for your reading pleasure. Also, the option to email the author is also now available.
• We’ve also included more information on FFW more accessible to the readers. All easily accessible from the sidebar.
• Watch out for new sections in 2008. Dedicated sections on Building Technology, Sustainability, Criticism, Studio Tours and others will be introduced in phases.

The Hidden stuff

Not all the work that we’ve done so far is clearly visible. Here are some that are well hidden but we thought you might find interesting.

• Improved CSS has been the mantra for this phase of development. The quirks are being sorted out which involved a re-building of the entire css structure. New changes in the future should be more easily implemented from now on.
• We used to do a lot of things manually but we’ve made automation a key feature in this version. The slideshow that you see on the main page is dynamically generated and so are a host of other snippets of information that you see in the site.
• With the introduction of tag support, we are now capable of using these tags and exploring more ways of organising the information from these posts for a better reading experience.

Hello everybody! Its 2008 and 5ft Creatives kicked things off by making ourselves available at 2 new places!

1- We moved into our new office.
We’ve finally moved in, operating from Waterloo Center as a base. We’ve got the furnitures in, the fax, phone and internet connection is working, the reference books are in and slowly but surely, we are colonizing the space and making it our own.

2-We are now on Facebook
We’ve started off a 5ft Creatives Page where you can declare yourself a ‘fan’. Visit the page here.

Also, we’ve given FiveFootWay Magazine its own Facebook group and to our readers, join in the fun! Visit the group page here.

We are working hard on growing FiveFootWay Magazine and there are some major stuff in the works so stay tuned in the coming weeks for some announcements of significant developments

Fantastic. That’s what 2007 has been for us at 5ft Creatives. FiveFootWay magazine has grown steadily over the past 6 months and the Magical Spaces Project has been a success. Coupled with the various commercial projects that we’ve undertaken, we are excited at what lies ahead.

But what has been perhaps the best part of 2007 is the friends that we’ve made along the way. The new relationships that we’ve nurtured, the new things that we never thought we would ever do, the life lessons that we’ve had in our journey. Thank you to everyone for such an amazing year. I am truly grateful for having had such a blessed year.

Now, as i sit here taking a few extra days off from the normal schedule, I ask myself, what do I want from 2008? While some question the need for resolutions/goals, I find the end of the year as a good way to keeping check of life. A way to remind myself what has happened and to give myself a general direction in the next phase.

2008 will be about going back to the basics - trying to build good habits (in work, play, finances, exercise and life) - taking things slow and steady without always trying to rush and get things done.

I want the year to be filled with fun, love and joy in everything that I do. I want to take my time to grow. I want to savour life and enjoy what I do even more. Take the time to produce high quality products, designs and articles. There will be no shortcuts and quick fixes. Love and joy will go into everything that I do.

I want to let the world to continue to inspire me and I want to continue growing as a person. I want to continue learning new things and I want to get better in everything I do.

Most importantly, I want to spend more time with my loved ones, to love and be loved.

“Work like you don’t need the money, live like there’s no tomorrow, love like you’ve never been hurt.”

Have a great year everyone!