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November 4, 2008: Another Day of Infamy?

Molly — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:34:11 +0000

Today is one of the most emotional days I have ever had as a citizen of the United States. I believe the very foundations of democracy have already been shaken, and I think today’s voting outcome will prove the citizens of my nation do want cooperation and change. The alternative, as I see it, will simply reveal that my beloved country is not a democracy.

People I meet around the world will sometimes express confusion at the strong patriotism of Americans, even when they disagree with their government. In fact, that is the essence of the civil liberties bestowed upon us in the ideal: We can love something we disagree with openly and actively. If the concept is difficult to understand, just imagine that you have a troubled child in his or her teen years, acting covert, full of rage, perhaps even unnecessary violence. Yet at heart, you know your child is a good child, and you work as hard as you can through the troubled times to save that good heart.

In an email I received from Michael this morning, I found a strong articulation of my feelings. His words, perhaps because he is the son of a preacher man, hit me exactly where my own feelings about today lie. And so I will leave you with them:

“Swat teams are standing by in all major US cities in case the republican party tries to pull some crooked bullshit. Obama has this election. Hands down. If Obama does not win this election I think it’s going to demonstrate beyond the shadow of a doubt that this is not America. If Obama doesn’t win, we don’t have a democracy.

The deck is stacked. The shit is rigged: Old dead wood. If Obama doesn’t win this election all bets are off. America is doomed, and the rift between black America and white America will not be healed in our lifetime. We have the obviously qualified candidate, versus more of the same. It has to happen. It has to.

If it does not I lose all hope in America as a democracy” – Michael William Forkan

If you are a U.S. citizen registered to vote, please vote today. It’s the most important election of our times. Please do what as a citizen you can do to bring change, hope and honor back to this mixed up, beautiful teenaged country of mine.

Sing Along: Common People

Molly — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:13:36 +0000

I’m losing all my teeth USA
you forgot to get the dentist on my union plan
despite the begging of the common man

Sure he’s limping after years of cutting hay
you forgot to tell him to keep his ankle out of the way
despite what the common people had to say.

Ain’t a Capitalist
Ain’t a Communist
Believe in Conversations
Without the Altercations

Web Standards 2008: Three Circles of Hell

Molly — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:29:16 +0000

Over on A List Apart there’s a recent article of my musings of the current state of Web affairs. Check out the Three Circles of Hell and take some time to share your thoughts and opinions!

Announcing The World Wide Web Foundation

Molly — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 01:09:51 +0000

Only a mere few hours ago Tim Berners-Lee at an event in Washington, D.C. announced The World Wide Web Foundation.

The mission of the foundation is:

to advance One Web that is free and open,
to expand the Web’s capability and robustness,
and to extend the Web’s benefits to all people on the planet.

All well and good, of course, but wasn’t that supposed to be part of the W3C’s mission, too? The difference here is that the foundation is essentially about funding (which is something the W3C dearly needs).

“The Foundation will raise funds through a multi-faceted strategy, beginning with a $5 million seed grant over five years from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.”

There’s a fairly good overview of the program on the site, give it a look-see. I would love to feel optimistic about this, but at this point I’ve really decided that creating more groups is just adding layers of problems on top of what we’re already doing.

On the other hand, if this empowers greater outreach, education and fosters real influence in returning to the core ideals of an interoperable Web for all, then I’m all for it.

Accessibility Storm Hits Texas: Millions Jeopardized

Molly — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 06:21:54 +0000

While Hurricane Ike’s eye hovers over Galveston, and the country has basically come to a standstill as planes are grounded and people (myself included) can’t get home to loved ones until the storms pass, there is an equally disturbing issue that’s surfaced in recent weeks regarding the acclaimed University of Texas.

This year, the world lost a great leader in John Slatin, who along with colleagues was able to create the Accessibility Institute at the University of Texas and make real inroads in training people about accessibility and universal design.

It appears that the University of Texas would like to honor his memory by dismantling one of the highlights of John’s life works. To lose such an institute at this time demeans whatever progress has been made in the light of accessibility.

Universal access is something we cannot afford to stop worrying about. Our communications systems rely on our ability, no matter our ability, to communicate need.

During a time so frightening and confusing as a massive hurricane like Ike, nothing seems to shine a brighter light on this important facet of our daily lives. With universal access, many people will be empowered to get help more efficiently. Without it, certain individuals will be locked out of some of those resources.

That the University of Texas could even consider dropping such a core and critical program is tragic. The act removes educational resources that in turn create the resources that can help us all during difficult times as well as those more pleasant.

Please raise your voice and request that the Accessibility Institute be reopened! Sign the petition at Save The Institute.

Stay safe, Texas. And do the right thing.

Flashback Post: Web Design and Development Personality Indicators

Molly — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 08:37:18 +0000

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?

Of Rich Web Experiences

Molly — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:12:07 +0000

If you want best practices, best information, best people and you care about code the place for you is the Rich Web Experience this September.

Early bird discounts apply right now – go check it out! If that sounds like marketing speak, say so! I’m working on my diversity skills. Last year I was honored with the same spot but health issues prevailed so I could not participate. This year, I’m raring to go and excited to be talking to as many Web developers and professionals as I can. Particularly application developers.

Interestingly, today is the day my relationship with Microsoft really, really ends (last check deposited to my account). Today, I stumble toward a “rich web experience” despite concerns about standards, agendas and linear thinking.

You can read about my Keynote and other sessions at the RWE web site. There’s an early-bird registration discount too! The richest Web experience I know is ironically off the Web. Face to Face, that’s the magic place.

I hope to see you at RWE!

To Challenge and Frighten

Molly — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 09:44:10 +0000

Challenge and sometimes frighten people.

What is Independence to You?

Molly — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:41:07 +0000

Today is the 4th of July, which is independence day in the U.S. We party with feasts and drinks and fireworks.

It’s a great tradition. Have you tried the hot dogs? Beef, hot mustard, sauerkraut.

Still, I’m concerned with the core values of Independence. Concerned that the idea that independence is not at all what we have, even though it might be what we thought we set out to have.

Independence to Me

Is believing everything I do matters, even if it doesn’t.