molly.com
Wednesday 18 March 2009
CSS3 Panel Slides from SXSWi
These are the CSS3 panel slides from SXSW Interactive. As the moderator, I apologize to the 40+ people who could not get into the room. It was a really informative and fun panel, so we’ve made these slides available to the public at large to extend that information.
- David Baron, Mozilla (XHTML format)
- Sylvain Galineau, Microsoft (PDF format for download)
- Håkon Wium Lie, Opera (HTML format)
Please enjoy and be sure to try things out in a variety of browsers. Feel free to share your comments and thoughts here.
Filed under: CSS3, conferences, ie8, innovation, microsoft, mozilla, opera, software, sxsw, web design and development
Posted by: Molly | 14:25 | Comments (15)
Thursday 8 January 2009
Web Standards for Web Applications
At the upcoming Web App Summit 2009, I’ll be presenting an all new workshop, “Web Standards for Web Applications.” The fabulous and ever-smooth Jared Spool interviewed me recently about the topic, covering issues such as HTML5, The rise of JavaScript, the integration of proprietary and standardized technologies and of course, browsers. We also had a few laughs along the way.
Listen to the audiocast, visit the Web Apps Summit page, and leave me some comments. I feel I’ve neglected this blog so much, so shout out your thoughts!
Filed under: ajax, announcement, browsers, conferences, innovation, javascript, software, standards, w3c, web design and development, whatwg
Posted by: Molly | 13:34 | Comments (18)
Thursday 10 July 2008
Of Rich Web Experiences
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!
Filed under: accessibility, ajax, announcement, browsers, community, conferences, how we will be, ie8, innovation, javascript, microsoft, policies, rails, society, software, standards, w3c, web design and development, whatwg
Posted by: Molly | 11:12 | Comments (9)
Thursday 3 July 2008
The Morris Law of Standards
I read this at Tom Morris‘ site and had to quote here:
“However fucked up and crazy something is, someone, somewhere in a standards body is writing a parser, schema or proposal for it.”
Some things are true because they’re funny. But most funny things are just quite simply true.
Filed under: community, creativity, humor, innovation, society, software, standards, w3c, web design and development
Posted by: Molly | 06:09 | Comments (13)
Monday 30 June 2008
Microformats: Machines Must Do Irony
We were just toying with the idea of a non-serious microformat about attitudes called “Microtude.” Some pointed out that defining attitude for verbal human language as a microformat couldn’t possibly stand; others saw its merit. Then someone said “machines don’t do irony.” Which got me thinking about the semantic web. Lowercase or uppercase, this comment disturbs me.
Semantics means “meaning” – it’s that simple.
If I say “pop” it’s up to you to determine whether I mean a soda or a sound. Semantic differences abound in every language, every culture. Meaning is layered, and that’s part of the beauty of individual languages, whether spoken or programmed. If a semantic web is to succeed, semantics for machines MUST include irony, negativity, or any other negative emotion of the human process.
Yes, I am well aware that the microformats community has worked exceedingly hard to leave out some of those aspects and I applaud that idealism. And I applaud it again.
Still, I maintain that approach is unrealistic. If machines are meant to express ideas to each other as humans might, then our flaws must be introduced to those machines and the software that runs them. Isn’t the idea “human first, then machine?” What I come up with is this: Unless we’re trying to try to make an artificial intelligence define Utopia, I believe we’re stuck solving human problems in human ways. Technology can help, but cannot replace.
Therefore, all that is human must be acknowledged.
Filed under: community, creativity, innovation, professional, society, software, standards, w3c
Posted by: Molly | 04:07 | Comments (21)
Monday 9 June 2008
Ten Years of CSS Pantheon
It started as a bit of conversation and sparring between Daniel Glazman and I on Twitter. Then Daniel posted this list, which is just exceptional. I’m reposting here. Can anyone help with links and any missing persons? This is an awesome list and I’d like to fully expand it. Note that this only refers to people who were or are W3C CSS Working Group, not other influentials (though worthy they might be).
Thank you Daniel!
A Decade of CSS Influentials (W3C CSS-WG working list)
César F. Acebal, University of Oviedo
Glenn Adams
Vidur Apparao, Netscape
Marc Attinasi, Netscape
Jonny Axelsson, Opera
David Baron, Mozilla
Robin Berjon, Expway
Arindam Bhattacharya, Openwave
Jim Bigelow, HP
Kimberly Blessing, AOL
Tim Boland, NIST
Bert Bos, W3C
Chris Brichford, Adobe
Steve Byrne, JavaSoft
Carl Cargill, Netscape
David Carlisle
Tantek Çelik, Microsoft, Technorati
Ada Chan, Microsoft
Brad Chase, Bitstream
Troy Chevalier, Netscape
John Daggett, Mozilla
Daniel Dardailler, W3C
Angus Davis, Netscape
Don Day, IBM
Michael Day, YesLogic
Angel Diaz, IBM
Dwayne Dicks, SoftQuad
Martin Dürst, W3C
Laurie Anna Edlund (Kaplan), IBM
Arron Eicholz, Microsoft
Elika Etemad
Bob Easton, IBM
Todd Fahrner
Max Froumentin, W3C
Scott Furman, Netscape
Ming Gao, HP
Daniel Glazman, Electricité de France, Netscape, Disruptive Innovations
Oliver Goldman, Adobe
David Goldsmith, Apple
Melinda Grant, HP
Molly Holzschlag
Björn Höhrmann
Ian Hickson, Netscape
David Hyatt, Netscape, Apple
Scott Isaacs, Microsoft
Richar Ishida, Xerox
Ian Jacobs, W3C
Lorin Jurow, Quark
Anne van Kesteren, Opera
Thierry Kormann, ILOG
Sally Khudairi, W3C
Sho Kuwamoto, Macromedia
Kevin Lawver, AOL
Philippe Le Hégaret, W3C
Michael Leventhal, CITEC
Håkon Lie, W3C, Opera
Chris Lilley, W3C
Peter Linss, Netscape, HP
Murray Maloney, SoftQuad
Jonathan Marsh, Microsoft
Paul Matchen, IBM
Charles McCathieNevile, RMIT University, W3C
Kevin McCluskey, Netscape
Eric Meyer, CWRU
Markus Mielke, Microsoft
Bruce Miller, NIST
Alex Mogilevsky, Microsoft
Lou Montulli, Netscape
Shinyu Murakami, Antenna House
Paul Nelson, Microsoft
Steven Pemberton, CWI/W3C
Brad Pettit, Microsoft
Thom Phillabaum, Netscape
Robert O’Callahan, Mozilla
Liam Quin, SoftQuad, W3C
Dave Raggett, W3C
T. V. Raman, Adobe
Douglas Rand, SGI
Nisheeth Ranjan, Netscape
Jacob Refstrup, HP
Tapas Kanti Roy, Openwave
Claudio Santambrogio, Opera
Marcin Sawicki, Microsoft
Pierre Saslawsky, Netscape
Svante Schubert, Sun
David Seibert
Dave Singer, Apple
Powell Smith, IBM
Patrick Soquet, Havas Edition Electronique
Jared Sorensen, Novell
Robert Stevahn, HP
Michael Stokes, HP
PV Subramanian, Oracle
Michel Suignard, Microsoft
Jason Cranford Teague, AOL
Ed Tecot, Apple
Jeffrey Veen, Hotwired
Mike Wexler, Adobe
Chris Wilson, Microsoft
John Williams, Quark
Misha Wolf, Reuters
Laurent Wood, SoftQuad
Don Wright, Lexmark
Ted Wugofski, Phone.com
François Yergeau
Mohamed Zergaoui, Innovimax
Steve Zilles, Adobe
Filed under: Twitter, WaSP, browsers, community, innovation, professional, society, software, standards, w3c, web design and development
Posted by: Molly | 05:36 | Comments (25)
Tuesday 3 June 2008
Microsoft and Me: Project Wrap-Up Preview
Well, the Microsoft project I’ve been working on for 1.5 years wraps up this month! It’s been a whacked, wild and wonderful ride.
I will be writing a few blog posts over the next several weeks talking about the technical and personal experiences of my recent time working with Microsoft. I was offered so much insight, access to great people and some influence as to IE7 and IE8 as well as other products and processes.
And, for some crazy reason, all this despite my known outrageousness.
Please look forward to more posts from me as I clarify the most educational information, interesting anecdotes and inside scoop from this truly life-changing experience.
Filed under: WaSP, announcement, browsers, community, creativity, ie8, innovation, microsoft, professional, society, software, standards, w3c, web design and development
Posted by: Molly | 18:24 | Comments (21)
Saturday 24 May 2008
Working Group by Numbers
Do the numbers tell a story?
Here is a breakdown of a W3C Working Group by number of representatives and their origin. The question I’m thinking about is whether the number of reps per given organization relates to influence, and if so, to what measurable degree?
Sample working group representatives by origin
| # of Reps | Organization |
|---|---|
| 1 | Adobe |
| 2 | Antenna House, Inc. |
| 3 | Apple, Inc. |
| 3 | AOL LLC |
| 3 | HP |
| 2 | IWA/HWG |
| 7 | Microsoft Corporation |
| 3 | Mozilla Foundation |
| 3 | Opera Software | 5 | Other – Individual, independent company reps |
| 1 | Sun Microsystems, Inc |
| 1 | University member |
| 6 | W3C Invited Experts/Staff |
There are several variables, one very important one is that just because there’s a currently listed representative in a group doesn’t mean that representative participates as much or at all. A related variable would be that certain long-term participants who do a lot of work will naturally have earned merit-based influence within a group.
Tell me what you think.
Filed under: Blogroll, accessibility, browsers, community, innovation, molly asks you, policies, professional, society, software, standards, w3c, web design and development
Posted by: Molly | 15:36 | Comments (179)
Thursday 22 May 2008
A Patent Parable
Three companies have come together to discuss interoperability between their products. The first company, Mud Corporation, has thousands of patents that, if not protected, risk becoming compromised. Mud could become vulnerable to loss of profits based on what was once a firm ownership of valuable intellectual property.
The second company, Tangerine, typically jumps ahead of the interoperability process in an effort to advance the power of their own innovations. They have great ideas but are perhaps too aggressive – implementing aspects of specifications that haven’t been formally approved. This opens up the opportunity for Tangerine to patent technologies developed in the Tangerine way, outside the specifications, setting up more interoperability problems down the road.
Finally, we have Small and Spongy, Inc. This company has typically done things its own way and has challenged core interoperability issues because Small and Spongy has massive influence. Why? They have their own kind of dynamite in the form of “market share” despite sporting a less superior but far more widely used product.
During the meeting, the primary issue is to figure out how to share technologies and retain those portions of ownership of patented technology that each company deems necessary. The group prioritizes a list of shared goals and deliverables, and begins to discuss each one and how it might or might not weaken or require the surrender of individually owned pieces.
Mud and Small and Spongy disagree about the way a deliverable is written, and an argument ensues. Mud, not willing to jeopardize a strongly prized patent, plays the “take our toys and go home” card, threatening to remove itself from the collaborative group.
Tangerine gets very frustrated because they don’t want to slow down their own growth with such issues. Tangerine representatives quietly leave the room.
Small and Spongy throw up their hands and say “Hey, we have market share, so we don’t have to care after all! Woohoo!” Small and Spongy representatives follow the Tangerines to the nearest bar and begin an eight hour Margarita binge.
Mud representatives, having protected their interests but not succeeded in addressing the interoperability issues, call it a day and join in the drinking, except for the four new fathers who go home to their upper middle class lives, wives and offspring.
The moral of this story is that interoperability threatens too many profits, and this is why we don’t have an interoperable Web.
Filed under: browsers, humor, innovation, policies, society, software, standards, web design and development
Posted by: Molly | 00:28 | Comments (18)
Wednesday 30 April 2008
Feedback on Web Typography for the CSS Working Group
During the recent W3C CSS Working Group Face to Face, we divvied up some various responsibilities. Long-time friend and colleague Jason Cranford-Teague has become the primary advocate for font modules in CSS3.
Yesterday, Jason asked for community feedback directly related to what you want for typography in CSS3. In his blog post, Jason outlines both the process the working group is using to manage type on the Web, as well as offering up some opinions as to how things might be best managed.
The critical issue is that Jason, and those of us working on CSS3, desperately need input, especially from designers but of course to anyone working the Web, in order to ensure next-generation options are in step with what makes the most sense.
Jason asks about a few specific properties as well as other feedback. It’s a very good read, a very important article, and a very positive commentary about how we’re working for openness within the group.
Filed under: announcement, innovation, standards, w3c, web design and development
Posted by: Molly | 07:51 | Comments Off
Monday 7 April 2008
Design Coding: Rap for The Rest of Us
The very awesome iJustine posted this like ten days ago, but I can’t stop watching it, it’s just that yummy.
Just(in)e case you haven’t seen it, I’m re-sharing it here and hope you enjoy it as much as I have!
BTW, who did this bit of brilliance? Where was it filmed?
Comments are open, I want to know.
Enjoy:
Design Coding
Your site design is the first thing people see
it should be reflective of you and the industry
easy to look at with a nice navigation
when you can’t find what you want it causes frustration
a clear Call to action to increase the temptation
use appealing graphics they create motivation
if you have animation
use with moderation
cause search engines can’t index the information
display the logos of all your associations
highlight your contact info that’s an obligation
create a clean design you can use some decoration
but to try to prevent any client hesitation
every page that they click should provide and explanation
should be easy to understand like having a conversation
when you design the style go ahead and use your imagination
but make sure you use correct color combinations
do some investigation, look at other organizations
but don’t duplicate or you might face a litigation
design done, congratulations but it’s time to start construction
follow these instructions when you move into production
your photoshop functions then slice that design
do your layout with divs make sure that it’s aligned
please don’t use tables even though they work fine
when it come to indexing they give searches a hard time
make it easy for the spiders to crawl what you provide
remove font type, font color and font size
no background colors, keep your coding real neat
tag your look and feel on a separate style sheet
better results with xml and css
now you making progress, a lil closer to success
describe your doctype so the browser can relate
make sure you do it great or it won’t validate
check in all browsers, I do it directly
gotta make sure that it renders correctly
some use IE, some others use Flock
some use AOL, I use Firefox
title everything including links and images
don’t use italics, use emphasis
don’t use bold, please use strong
if you use bold that’s old and wrong
when you use CSS, you page will load quicker
client satisfied like they eating on a snicker
they stuck on your page like you made it with a sticker
and then they convert now that’s the real kicker
make you a lil richer, your site a lil slicker
design and code right man I hope you get the picture
what I’m telling you is true man it should be a scripture
if it’s built right you’ll be the pick of the litter
everyone will want to follow you like twitter
competition will get bitter and you’ll shine like glitter
if you trying to grow your company will get bigger
design and code right man can you get with it
Filed under: browsers, creativity, humor, innovation, music, pop culture, society, software, standards, web design and development
Posted by: Molly | 19:27 | Comments (22)
Wednesday 27 February 2008
Interview: Roger & Molly: Webstock New Zealand
I like this interview! It runs a bit long but Roger made me feel so welcome it just came out as a spontaneous chat.
Anyone willing to do text transcript, holler. I’d like to make one available!
Thank you, Roger, for a great interview.
Enjoy, comment, bitch etc. below:
Filed under: announcement, browsers, community, conferences, creativity, food and drink, humor, ie7, innovation, microsoft, professional, society, software, standards, travel, w3c, web design and development, whatwg
Posted by: Molly | 08:12 | Comments (37)
Thursday 31 January 2008
Web Standards Aren’t
After a fantastic day in Perth I ended up talking to a group of oil workers. Men of all classes and walks of life. Scottish, English, Aussie. Tattoos, guys with attitude, heart, and an amazing decency of soul.
An engineer on an oil rig finds a fitting that’s defective. He tells his mates to fix or replace the fitting.
Following manufacturing specs, the person given the task consults the specs, and he builds it just so.
It fits, and will function. If it does not fit, it is not allowed to be used. Those are standards. The products developed meet manufacturing specs world over, and that’s that.
What we have today, on the Web, are not standards in the truest sense. We are at a time in the evolution of the Web where the idea of “standards” is more of a profound misnomer than ever.
Please Define Web Standards
Bet an Aussie dollar you can’t!
Most folks reading this post will say Web standards are markup and CSS, and maybe, just maybe, accessibility.
So what about JavaScript?
If you’re really smart, you raised your hand like Arnold Horschack and shouted out: JavaScript.
Surprise you markup and CSS pedantics, you know, that’s a “standard” too.
Democracy Killed My Grandma
The democratic Web fosters anarchy. That’s not a bad thing per se. I like the idea of anyone having a soap box. It makes for intrigue if not logic.
But professional sites must set some practice that is equivalent to all counterparts. And also supports my Mum when she wants to post a photo.
Don’t you agree?
Context, He Said, Is Everything
There’s a reason that we don’t have standards on the Web, or clearly understand what “standards” really are. The bottom line is it’s not that important.
Web standards aren’t, because democracy demands it.
The grand paradox is that our professional world demands a standard that can be measured and judged. And yet, we need to be free to not be conformists.
Web Standards Really Aren’t
Go ahead, tell me what they are. I know you can’t, because they aren’t. We have specifications, recommendations, implementations and a lot of best practice chatter.
What we do not have is the ace that will fit perfectly in the hole. Web standards aren’t.
It’s time to move on to whatever is next.
Filed under: WaSP, accessibility, ajax, browsers, innovation, javascript, microsoft, professional, society, software, standards, w3c, web design and development, whatwg
Posted by: Molly | 08:28 | Comments (75)
Thursday 1 November 2007
W3C TPAC Upcoming
The “all hands” meeting of the W3C, combining the Technical Plenary and Advisory Committee meetings commences next week in what is certain to be an historic event.
This is the first time we’ll see the HTML 5 Working Group Members and its many Invited Experts meet en masse and face to face. The CSS Working Group, the QA working group and the WAI working group meetings are all on my personal lists for participation, along with the most important aspect of any conference of this nature: Talking to and meeting as many folks as I can.
On Wednesday, November 7, I am beyond honored to host the opening panel presentation for the Technical Plenary itself. Joining me in “From the Outside, In” will be Aaron Gustafson, Patrick Haney, Matthew Oliphant and Stephanie Troeth whose individual experiences span many aspects of real-world issues as influenced by W3C policies and practices.
I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the many people at the W3C and in the industry in general to have honored this group a unique opportunity to build bridges between the working communities of the Web and its most revered academic and scientific body, the World Wide Web Consortium.
From the Outside, In: Real World Perspectives on the W3C
Whether you’re a Web designer, developer, usability specialist or work in any one of the myriad jobs that go into making great Web sites, it’s clear that the W3C has significant influence on how you work. Whether it’s via the specifications that go into the software and agents that you use daily, or as the cornerstone of educational material, the W3C is involved somewhere in the process.
But it’s also clear that there’s been a gap between the real-world and the internal workings of the W3C. As Working Groups such as HTML 5 and CSS become more open, so must our conversations open. In this session, the W3C will have the opportunity to listen to real-world perspectives, respond to criticisms and praise and keep alive the ongoing commitment to authentic conversation and active community participation.
The panel:
- Molly E. Holzschlag (Web Standards and Practices Education and Outreach, Molly.Com, Inc.)
- Patrick Haney (Harvard)
- Matthew Oliphant (MathWorks)
- Stephanie Troeth (CloudRaker)
- Aaron Gustafson (Easy! Designs, Inc.)
We will also have a post-session q&a in the hallway near the presentation room, as well as dedicated Birds of a Feather tables set aside for ongoing discussion at lunch that day.
Am I excited? You bet. Idealistic, well always. Optimistic? Verdict is still out. In the meantime, this feels like forward movement and I, for one, want to be part of that momentum.
Filed under: accessibility, announcement, browsers, community, conferences, innovation, policies, professional, society, software, standards, w3c, web design and development
Posted by: Molly | 17:49 | Comments (44)
Thursday 18 October 2007
Standards Needs and Wants
What do you need and want from Web Standards?
- I want generated content
- I want CSS3 features, especially design-oriented techniques such as better flow and layout, multiple background graphics, etc.
- I want to rebuild the Web
Rebuilding the Web would be a very sexy pipe dream from which we all woke up with cream in our respective jeans.
I’m hoping CSS3 is more sexy. I kinda think it offers us a lot.
Part of my role is to ask and to translate the collective concerns to organizations that need to hear (and most importantly, understand) your needs. I personally don’t know what is “correct” or “right” really. So, I’m asking. And I’ll keep asking, and hopefully our voices will have some impact. I believe they can, and ultimately will.
Would readers be so kind as to tell me what your role is (designer/developer/implementor/other) in your answer as that will help me understand the context of your responses?
Filed under: WaSP, accessibility, ajax, browsers, creativity, hardware, ie7, innovation, javascript, microsoft, policies, professional, society, software, standards, w3c, web design and development
Posted by: Molly | 22:16 | Comments (54)