molly.com
Tuesday 29 September 2009
The Painter, The Shoemaker
I am a painter, but my house has no paint.
I am a shoemaker, but I cannot make shoes.
I am a web designer, but I cannot design.
I am a software engineer, but my start-ups often stop.
A painter has paint
A shoemaker makes shoes
I am painting my shoes
and shoe-ing my paint
All for the sake
of loving you.
Filed under: blogging, community, creativity, humor, just fun, personal
Posted by: Molly | 07:28 | Comments Off
Saturday 30 May 2009
Molly’s Top Five Tips to Gaining Twitter Market Share
The other day I was asked by someone how I was gaining “market share” on Twitter. Apparently, they were impressed by the number of followers I’d gathered, and wanted to know what it was I was doing to get them.
So here are Molly’s (aka @mollydotcom in Twitter speak) top suggestions on how to gain market share on Twitter.
- Create a user CSS file that sets the Twitter Follower link to display: none;
- Choose a Twitter client that doesn’t show how many followers you actually have, or makes it difficult to find that information
- Never, ever seek out your numbers or stats using Twitter stats tools
- Only follow those people you genuinely are interested in
- Don’t believe the hype. It’s love, not money, that makes the world go ’round
Yes, it’s really that simple.
Filed under: Twitter, blogging, community, policies, society, software
Posted by: Molly | 02:26 | Comments (13)
Thursday 30 April 2009
I’ve Been Having an Affair
Ha, gotcha! Thought I had some sizzling gossip about my love life? I’ve learned the hard way that the less sizzling and the more loving, the more lively I feel.
So now that I’ve grabbed your attention, what I really want to address is the fact that this poor blog is so abandoned of late, and in real need of attention both in terms of content, and technical issues (can you say RSS feeds are still mucked up?). Even a design refresh would be in order. But, as is so often the case, the shoemaker’s kids have no shoes, and the painter’s house is never painted.
Or, has alumininum siding.
I could blame a lot of factors: heavy workload, travel schedule, laziness. But none of that is true. What is true, however, is the time I used to spend on this blog, now close to its 10th anniversary, has ended up being spent instead with another socially oriented technology: Twitter.
Why has Twitter captured my fascination so? I think because it’s made for people like me, who, while quite capable of planning and executing articles, are by nature spontaneous. Twitter has appealed to my stream of consciousness style of unloading thoughts moment by moment in order to make way for the next thought demanding attention.
So yes, I’ve been having an affair. Ah, my dear blog, and dearest blog readers, I think it’s time to find a new model. I don’t want to give up blogging-a true love and passion, but this Twitter thing has kept me distracted for years now, and my attention here is, in a word, shameful. Perhaps it even qualifies as emotional blog abuse.
While I can’t leave Twitter while the affair is so strong, I can’t leave my blog either. So I have to say I’m sorry, and I will work on being more attentive, loving and caring in upcoming months.
Forgive me?
Filed under: blogging, community, humor
Posted by: Molly | 23:06 | Comments (23)
Sunday 31 August 2008
Flashback Post: Web Design and Development Personality Indicators
From 2005, for your amusement.
(original post here: Web Design and Development personality indicators)
-=-
I’VE HAD ENOUGH! Frustrated with the range of attitudes and opinions I deal with as a standards-oriented educator, I’ve decided to begin a project (very) loosely based on the Meyers-Briggs personality indicators. So, dear readers, I’m hoping you’ll help me add and refine my categories, but I’m off to a start with the following:
- OFAD. Old Fart Anti-Design. These are the guys (and I mean guys) that were on the Web as early as 1991. Almost all physicists at major research institutions, they’re the ones who helped Tim Berners-Lee refine the Web and were the first adopters. Mostly long in the tooth now, some are still kicking and they can be described as the anti-designers. These aren’t even purists – today’s approaches seem foreign and sometimes frightening to them. They long for the days of Lynx, really, but barring glowing text on a terminal and HTML authored in Vi or Emacs, their idea of Web design is default gray backgrounds, default text, maybe a list, and the apex of old fart visual design: a horizontal rule. Fortunately, this is a very rare breed and usually they can be ignored because unless they’ve progressed somewhat, they have precious little to offer the contemporary, standards-oriented Web designer or developer.
- OSVD. Old Skool Visual Designer. These are the folks that refuse to see beyond their nested-tables-spacer-GIF design. In fact, you can find them at a variety of ad agencies and teaching at conferences all over the world, still excited when they create a design in Photoshop and use the so-called HTML export utility. These designers are often extremely hostile toward standardistas largely because the idea of change or looking at code is so traumatic that they hold on to the Old Skool methodology as if it were a lifeboat on a stormy sea. Unfortunately, this breed isn’t rare enough.
- TTLM. Trying To Learn More. In this category are the good men and women who might still be serving it up Old Skool but are open to learning, open to growth yet struggling with standards related concepts and the snakepit of browser challenges of contemporary Web design and development. These brave souls are not in the majority, but they are to be lauded and assisted for their willingness to venture forth and expand their horizons.
- SAVD. Standards Aware Visual Designer. These people are designing with standards in mind – creating beautiful sites for the screen, working toward achieving accessible sites, examining usability and human factors, and very possibly beginning or already designing for alternative devices and media types. A very rare breed, and if you are reading this post it’s very highly likely you’re either one your own fine self, know all their names or have Zeldman’s personal phone number memorized.
- SASS. Standards Aware Structural Semanticist. These personalities are very code-centric, with little interest (or more often, skill) in presentation but lots of interest in the proper structuring of documents, use of meaningful markup, microformats, Semantic Web and the like. At their most compulsive, they can become purists to the point of having unrealistic expectations of the more worldly Web worker. Also a rare breed, SASS personalities are extremely important to the good of the Web but sometimes need to be reminded that smart structure and semantics can happily co-exist with visual design.
- SACE. Standards Aware Cutting Edge. Whether visual designers or code-centric or both, these are the folks that design first for Firefox, Safari and Opera and work around IE 6.0 only because they have to. Given their druthers, sites would be built using practically no markup and lots of attribute selectors, just because they like the idea. A rare breed worth watching, but also in need of reminders that the rest of the world just ain’t there yet, and in fact, really are lagging behind.
Hybrids are not unusual, either. I sort of live between the SASS and the SAVD personalities, with not enough real design skill to execute great visual designs, but enough savvy to appreciate beautiful, standards-based Web sites. There’s probably a personality type for people like me, but it’s very difficult to assess my own character, so I’ll leave it there for now.
As I’m typing this, I’m on a ship in the Eastern Caribbean teaching CSS on a Geek Cruise. The ship, the MS Zuiderdam, is just in the process of docking at Road Town, Tortola, in the British Virgin Isles. I’m sure you all feel really sorry for me right now.
It’s just past dawn and I’m up at the very top of the ship where there happens to be WiFi at the going rate of 40 cents USD per minute, so you’ll forgive me if I leave you now with the following questions: Are you one of these personality types, and if so, which? Do you have a personality type you’d like to add to my little list?
Filed under: blogging, flashback, general, how we will be, humor, just fun, molly asks you, pop culture, revolution, society, web design and development
Posted by: Molly | 01:37 | Comments (31)
Tuesday 26 August 2008
When You Met Nick Drake
BY THE TIME I’d “met” Nick Drake he was already long dead.
I believe it was after the “Pink Moon” Volkswagen commercial that aired in the United States. It’s possible I’d heard him before but I’m pretty sure I’d remember.
I’ve been listening to Nick Drake now nearly 10 years. What about you?
When did you see/hear/learn about Nick Drake?
Perfection has no stopwatch.
Filed under: blogging, community, creativity, cults of personality, molly asks you, music, poetry & fiction, pop culture
Posted by: Molly | 21:09 | Comments (32)
Monday 26 May 2008
Andy Warhol Had it Wrong
Fifteen minutes of fame was a good guess, but had Mr. Warhol known about blogging, I think that measurement would have been far greater.
Filed under: blogging, community, cults of personality, flashback, humor, just fun, pop culture
Posted by: Molly | 22:32 | Comments (23)
Wednesday 14 May 2008
Why Macs are Scientifically Better than Windows
Reliability.
Filed under: blogging, community, hardware, humor, religion, society, software
Posted by: Molly | 18:10 | Comments (45)
Saturday 15 March 2008
Your Best Pop, Your Worst
NEEDING TO GET AWAY FROM STANDARDS and browsers and conferences, I’m interested in a conversation about the best and worst pop culture right now.
Whether journalism, fiction, television, film, photography, illustration, diaries or mixes thereof, I really need your help expanding my horizons.
It can only help!
I’ve been watching “Ashes to Ashes” and waiting for a new episode of the “Big Bang Theory.”
What are you following? Reading? Watching? Doing?
Share your worst, your best!
Filed under: blogging, community, creativity, faith(less), humor, molly asks you, nmby, poetry & fiction, pop culture, society
Posted by: Molly | 19:23 | Comments (68)
Monday 18 February 2008
Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History
Guess I’m going down in those history books, because I am scandalous!
What fun! I love the fact that Matt (the fellow whose shirt I unbuttoned the top two buttons of) used to “smuggle” my books into class. In the sixth form, no less! Oh, the irony.
Filed under: blog slut, blogging, conferences, food and drink, humor, pop culture, society, travel, web design and development
Posted by: Molly | 19:25 | Comments (13)
Sunday 17 February 2008
Happiness is Sexy
As a depressive, I’ve always found the people I get involved with during the dark times end up being my worst mistakes.
But happiness, I’m sure, is sexy. I see a plain person frown, and that’s just a plain person frowning. I see any person, no matter their physical being, alive with happiness, and that is very appealing.
Happiness is sexy. I may not always be able to be happy, or sexy, but damned if I don’t love being both.
What do you think?
Filed under: blog slut, blogging, community, molly asks you, pop culture, society
Posted by: Molly | 03:23 | Comments (35)
Friday 8 February 2008
Melbourne, Australia
If it isn’t on your “places to see before you die” list, put it on.
I might never leave.
Coolest most awesome, broad minded, multicultural city I’ve ever been in.
I love Melbourne. What an amazing, unique town.
Filed under: blogging, community, creativity, food and drink, travel
Posted by: Molly | 09:15 | Comments (28)
Saturday 2 February 2008
Avoiding the Melting Pot while Embracing Global Differences
Earlier this month there came an interesting post on the “Top 15 Women Bloggers” courtesy xfep.com. The list is surely a good one, citing strong women bloggers from a variety of backgrounds, interests and talents.
This morning, I woke to find a link to a post by Hùynh Vĩnh Sơn, a Vietnamese blogger who has published the top 15 list in his native language. He then followed it up with a thought-provoking image questioning “Vietnam female blogger where are you?”
One of the most awesome things about the Web is surely how global we have become. Yet, our blogging and social networks, while becoming more international in readership and scope, still have gender, language and cultural boundaries that will likely remain for a long time to come. And, these distinctions are important. I for one want to see the values of culture preserved. I’m sure most will agree. I mean, who wants to have one language, one food, one way of life? Much of life’s experience is in fact in our diversity, and the fascinating things that happen when we are expanded as individuals and groups through different views of the world.
I think about translation tools and online social environments as well as global interaction guides to help us understand some of the etiquette and behaviors involved when dealing across cultural boundaries, and even divides. I see that these are good tools to use to begin with, but I’m interested in discussing how to create social software that can assist us in avoiding a melting pot and embracing our global differences.
The Web, which often progresses socially a lot faster than the actual world does, offers much to enhance, assist and aid both the opening of the world to its true global potential while maintaining a respect and awe for the individual cultures that makes our world so very rich.
Hùynh Vĩnh Sơn’s post, which I could not read but for the fact there were translations and a high-impact image, has brought these thoughts to the forefront. What are your thoughts about blogs, the social network and cross-cultural enrichment? I’m truly fascinated to know.
Filed under: blogging, community, molly asks you, society, software
Posted by: Molly | 18:49 | Comments (22)
Friday 19 October 2007
Double Dare: Your Last Meal on Earth
So I posted this to Twitter:
Twitter Poll: If you had to decide your final meal on earth, what would it be?
Which emerged from this post:
you know, if I ever get the death penalty for offing some bad ex boyfriend, my last meal will be exactly that. (Rib Eye bloody, plus taters and veg)
Then a lovely fellow emailed me from Ask500people:
Hey Molly, Just saw your tweet, would you like us to run your question on Ask500People.com? We could gather 100 votes for it.
And snarkily, after eating a really good steak and “hopped” up on Pike Pale and red meat, I responded:
So you’re saying if we ask 500 people we’ll only get 100 responses?
Double dare you to make more than 100 posts about what is your perfect last meal on earth.
GO!
Filed under: blogging, community, creativity, food and drink, humor
Posted by: Molly | 19:20 | Comments (76)
Tuesday 10 July 2007
Stop Blogging
I like to blog. But I’ll stop if you want to.
(yes this is a joke in response to Jakob. Please don’t always take me so seriously my darlings!)
Filed under: Blogroll, announcement, blogging, community, faith(less), humor, innovation, policies, pop culture, society, software
Posted by: Molly | 16:56 | Comments (38)
Sunday 22 April 2007
The Online Tribe : Three Commitments
Lately, things have been so busy, and so difficult in many ways.
I still believe in my online tribe. Are you with me? Here are my commitments:
- I will not give up.
- I will not stop blogging.
- I made mistakes and I shall steady on.
Are you with me? I need you. Claim your truth in comments below.
Filed under: Blogroll, blogging, creativity, faith(less), family, innovation, poetry & fiction, policies, pop culture, professional, society
Posted by: Molly | 16:15 | Comments (77)