molly.com » molly asks you

Which Browser do You Use?

Molly — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:17:56 +0000

Today is the official IE8 release date. I’m here at MIX09, where conversations about IE8 CSS 2.1 implementation and IE8 modes are in full swing. Since I’m on a fact-finding mission while here, I shall reserve my comments until I’ve had a few more meetings.

Last night at the Tao party I was interviewed by a fellow from Prague who asked some great questions, one of which was “Which browser do you use, Molly?” This strikes me as a particularly funny question, because there can only be one answer for a person in my job, which is “all of them.”

Of course, there’s a difference between use and prefer, but we’ll shy away from that for a moment while we answer the question: Which browser do you use?

Extra love from me (and maybe even an Opera beer cozie) for a few points as to why (for example, interface, CSS features, extensibility, tools, etc.)

Clarifying a Web Standards Workflow

Molly — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:15:48 +0000

During a session this week at the fantastic MexicoWeb2.0, an attendee asked me if I had any recommended process for working with Web standards.

Workflow and process has been a particularly difficult area to address, mostly because every company or organization has a different culture. Sometimes you have designers and developers working together, sometimes they exist on opposite ends of an enormous corporate campus. And sometimes it’s just a small shop that has to be agile and responsive to a wide range of client demands.

I had to express my frustration at the fact that after years of trying different workflow options, I still don’t know the magic answer to this question! Working with others in the field, I have promoted a number of ideas, none of which seem to fit broader needs. Clearly, each of these ideas have fabulous merit and insight, and much is to be learned from them.

Existing Process Ideas

Examining the problem early on, Eric Meyer suggested using markup and CSS for the wireframe process. This was an idea that intrigued me and we both promoted it for some time via workshops together and apart (oops, that’s a pun!) Later, when working with Andy Clarke on the inspirational book “Transcending CSS” the idea of an interactive prototype emerged. Essentially, this is a maturing of the workflow process originally described by Eric and others but built to include interaction design.

The big disconnect that I keep finding in these models is the integration of the prototype visual design, the wireframe, and the interaction design. In today’s application-hungry Web environment, interaction plays an enormous role, but is often left until after the design is sliced n’ diced n’ marked n’ styled. And we all know that using graphic prototypes to define interaction can be ridiculously time consuming. This is especially true in large institutions with separation between designers, interaction designers, and front end developers.

Find the Missing Puzzle Piece

So where’s the missing piece? One best practice that has emerged is that we start at the beginning of a project with all the issues: Usability, accessibility, media targeting (screen, print, handheld, etc.), information architecture and so on. This is really the process of discovery, which is well-established in media and graphic design workflows. After that, in the ideal, we move on to actual development: designers design prototypes, this goes to either a graphic or markup-based wireframe, and interaction is added at some point in the process.

The general ideas we toy with in Web Standards workflows of this nature are intriguing, but rarely practical. How many times do we really come into a project in nascent form? Most Web workers are fixing what’s broken or adding to existing infrastructure, although in the area of Web application development we do see some opportunity to begin the beguine, as it were.

Clarifying Workflow Concerns

I’m very interested in how different folks address the workflow issue, and if in fact anyone feels they have developed a process that might be considered a global best practice (even if it’s modified for a given situation). Some specific questions I would like to clarify include:

Should graphic prototyping be the first step after discovery?
How do we introduce interaction design into a wireframe early and conveniently?
How do we cleanly move between graphic design and code requirements (a big question, I think!)
Is it even possible to think there’s a meta-process available, or should we create each process based on each situation?

And of course, most importantly, your thoughts and experiences on this topic in general will be very helpful.

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!

Why Do Some People Stay in Harm’s Way?

Molly — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 11:12:52 +0000

Watching the first early morning pictures coming in showing Ike’s devastation.

One thing the newscasters and interviewees keep bringing up are how people refuse to leave their homes despite opportunities, offers and resources to do so. I can’t figure this out. It’s one thing to be isolated and out of touch and therefore stranded. It’s another to deny reality when you’ve been given the information.

Any insights into why this is?

Thinking good thoughts for all.

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?

When You Met Nick Drake

Molly — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:09:02 +0000

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.

Web Typography: The Pain Will Persist

Molly — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:57:26 +0000

. . . unless existing and new open source font projects gain momentum and critical mass.

What You Wanted but Never Got

Molly — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:52:34 +0000

I wanted but never got a dirtbike, erector set, real football/soccer ball, a Gibson Hollow Body, a motorcycle, a skateboard, a trumpet.

You?

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.

Molly’s New Microformat: Microtude

Molly — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:56:29 +0000

In order to make online communications more meaningful, I propose a new Microformat called “microtude” that, using the class attribute, will have a number of values to enhance the semantics of a given communication.

Let’s say you want to make a sarcastic comment. Knowing that most of your friends and colleagues understand you often keep your tongue in your cheek, it’s not necessary to wave a sarcasm flag in front of them. But what about those folks who don’t know you, and only have your text to help them understand the full impact of your comment? Microtude to the rescue! Consider the following:

Wow, your code is so clean I can eat off of it!

Using Microtude, you’d simply add the class with a value of “sarcasm” to clarify your intent:

Wow, your code is so clean I can eat off of it!

Pretty clear. Now I’m starting to work on the full range of allowed values for Microtude and this of course is where you come in. Suggestions and examples most welcome.