About Archon Digital
Hi, I’m Jon and I run archondigital.com
I’m a web developer who started out as a graphic designer in print before shifting to design and development on the web. Archon Digital is my personal blog / hobby site / creative outlet… a repository of my thoughts, unwittingly made available online.
Since 2005, I’ve been doing web development and devOps both during work and in my free time. When I am not in front of a screen, I take photographs of the street life around me either in film or on digital.
In what would seem like ages ago, I used to be technical lead of the Official Gazette PH, and Open Data PH. Founded a tech startup / digital agency in 2015 with my friends, Ten88 Digital, which closed shop in the middle of the pandemic.
I now work as an individual consultant for my local clients, and remotely as a white-label web developer for agencies in the United States and in Australia.
This is my personal website. What I post here, my views, rants, etc… does not in any way represent that of the whichever office that I am currently attached to at the moment.
If you feel like it, I’d never say no to a nice, cold mug of beer.
Lifestream
Hello World
JASMS
CSA
Home Schooled for medical reasons
how I honed in on my passion for reading and learning
Lost Kelly
lost my sister, Kelly, to #fuckcancer
She died at a young 12 years old. Full of potential.Public school era
Bacood Elementary School
Graduated from Primary schooling
goodbye Bacood!
Moved to Baguio
started High School in Baguio
started playing bass
Got into my first printing job
took the UPCAT hungover as hell
Graduated High School in Baguio
freshman at UP Baguio
took up Systems Design and Programming
AMA-CLC
Got hitched...
Got hitched...
first-time Dad!
first-time Dad!
started blogging on Blogspot
probably joined right as Pyra Labs was acquired by Google
joined the Shangri-La group
started tinkering with WordPress
after a brief few months on the blogspot platform, I found myself choosing between Movable Type and WordPress. I went with WordPress (Open source and Free)
it's a gurl...
1st paid gig developing WordPress websites
Hey India
sent by Shangri-La group to train comms staff of recently opened Shangri-La New Delhi. Conducted email marketing training and audited corporate identity
1st iteration of Archon Digital website
great things come in threes, another boy!
left the Shangri-La group
Hi Dubai
work in IT and Defense Contracting
on top of the usual website gig, I was dealing with procurement, tech support, and systems integration for Dubai-based Oil and Defense companies
big 30
developed a series of websites for the upcoming London Olympics (2012)
developed a series of websites for sponsored UK athletes for the upcoming London Olympics (2012). A combination of WordPress and plain PHP static websites. Joanne Jackson, Victoria Pendleton, among others
bye Dubai!
joined @govph
launched www.gov.ph
One of the first national governments around the world to adopt WordPress as a Content Management System.
got @govph to adopt an official template for websites
Worked with counterparts in other agencies to get government to adopt a content policy and enforce corporate identity using a common modern website template. Worked on and drafted policy that lead to Administrative Order No. 39, s. 2013.
launched data.gov.ph
started @ten88digital with friends
left @govph
Consultant at UNDP
18 and life
lockdown #covid19
shutdown @ten88digital
Ended Consultancy at UNDP
Started work at SMA (remote)
end of pandemic
Left SMA
Started white-label dev/devOps work for agencies in AU
Started as consultant at the Department of Tourism
Launched Stakeholder's Portal for DOT
Launched new (interim) DOT website
recent posts
test
Jeepney along Pedro Gil Street and more on old edits
While going through my Lightroom library as part of an unplanned and unorganized effort to revisit old images, I came across this photo I originally edited in black and white. I had shared it on Instagram a few years ago, during a phase when I was exploring monochrome treatments for my street photography. I re-edited
Harbour Square and revisiting old photographs
Lately, I’ve found myself revisiting my old Lightroom library from pre-pandemic times, digging through countless images I had imported over the years but never took the time to open, let alone edit. It feels like discovering a time capsule of forgotten moments, each frame carrying a slice of a day I barely remember. One photo
Morning rush along Lubiran Street
Just another jeepney shot I took while on a morning walk along Lubiran Street in Santa Mesa, Manila. Taken 5 March 2024. I remember having breakfast in one of the neighborhood carinderias then taking a brief walk while grabbing some supplies for the day. I should make it a point to take more walks in
Tsambatography 101: Avoid getting hit by bikes.
Walking along Ongpin Street in Binondo (Chinatown) in Manila, I almost missed this shot because I remembered having to quickly step back to not get myself hit by the motorbike that I captured in the foreground. Reminding myself that awareness of your surroundings and reflexes matter. Keep safe while taking pictures on the street. I’ve
Carriedo Street and me walking around this 2024
Took a walk with some friends a few weeks ago to help scratch a common itch (taking photos, just to be clear). I haven’t been walking a lot for the past few months due to my usual busy nocturnal schedule and getting out and getting some decent sun, and a few beers, was a good
Katori Shintō-ryū
To be honest, I know nothing about Japanese martial arts and culture, except from what I have read from the novel Shōgun by James Clavell as a teenager, and from what I picked up in cartoons, pop-culture, toys, 80s television, and video games. Shōgun was a good read back in my teenage days, but it