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Shine On, Brad

Molly — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 07:42:36 +0000

Broke Brad with Bread, originally uploaded by mollyeh11.

After six years of hosting the Breaking Bread with Brad parties at SxSW, I was joking with him in 2006 and asked if anyone had ever literally broken bread with him. It turned out NO one ever properly broke bread with Brad! So of course I seized the moment and had the great pleasure of doing literally that.

Who knew it would be one of the memories I will now hold very close for the rest of my life, for Brad Graham has passed on, far too young, at age 41.

Rest in peace, dear friend. I will remember you always. You were one of the most magnanimous people I’ve ever known – great in mind and heart.

Why Bottom Posting Sucks

Molly — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:24:17 +0000

Throughout the years, posting styles in email lists and in forums have been a point of contention. Essentially, there are three types of posting styles.

Inline posting. In this style, the responder answers queries or provides insight throughout the document.
Top posting. The responder writes his thoughts at the top of the previous discussion. This particular method has long been frowned upon because the dialog is out of order.
Bottom posting. The responder writes at the very bottom of the discussion, leaving the previous dialog intact and creates a sequential order for the discussion.

At first glance, both inline and bottom posting make sense. The logic of each is maintained. In the first case you have essentially an actual dialog. He writes, she responds, the conversation goes back and forth. In bottom-posting, you have all the sequential context of the dialog available.

There is also the issue of what gets clipped out, or doesn’t. But let’s save that rant for another day. The issues with these styles have only been based on preference within the group or organization, and it’s daunting to think how much people argue about something so seemingly simple.

Because I personally find inline posting to make sense, as I am a verbal person and think in dialog anyway, let’s set that one aside. It’s fairly neutral overall. Most people won’t freak out if you use inline posting. Although I’m sure there are some of you out there!

Top-posting puts the sequence out of order. So why am I advocating it over bottom-posting? There are several reasons, all of which have their own logic. First, we’re becoming extremely used to backward sequencing. Blogs do this automatically. Twitter does too. Think of any social network and the way your posts are ordered. They are essentially top-posted.

Not only are we becoming accustomed to this behavior and perhaps prefer it in certain situations, but a second point also reigns true. We have many tools now so as to retrieve and save threads. IMAP, for one. Gmail provides archives. All current, popular mail clients allow some sort of filtering and thread views.

A third and important reason bottom-posting needs to die a fast death is the increasing access of email on small devices. It becomes absolutely senseless to have an entire novel sent when the message is simply “yup, I’m on the task” or what have you.

The final reason that bottom-posting sucks is that long emails that require a user to scroll through what is sometimes pages and pages of information is physically damaging and actually very difficult to do for those of us whose wrists and fingers tire easily. If someone with mobility impairments has to scroll through so much data just to get to “yup, I’m on the task” it just becomes an insult to that user, who suffers through the inconvenience to get to the message.

Two words: Not Accessible.

If there is any reason for everyone to abandon bottom-posting at this point in our evolution, I have to say it’s that alone. And if you’re young and strong and able-bodied and think I’m nuts, that’s okay. I’m probably older than your mother and sticking around to hear you grow up and say “Mom, you were right” will be my goal!

Bottom posting sucks. Let’s abolish it now and get on with the day.

Molly’s Top Five Tips to Gaining Twitter Market Share

Molly — Sat, 30 May 2009 02:26:36 +0000

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.

One of These Links is Not Like the Others

Molly — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:55:42 +0000

I was over on LinkedIn adding contacts and updating bio, when on my profile page I noticed a list of generated links “Viewers of this profile also viewed . . .”

The list, as you can see in both the screen shot and listed names, is simply a classic. But I’ll leave it up to you to decide which one of these links is simply not like the others.

List of Linked Names:

I Am an Opera Singer

Molly — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:04:01 +0000

“I am an opera singer / I sing in foreign lands / Most people seem to know my name / Or at least know who I am” – Cake

Today marks a major passage in my life, and I’d like to share it with you. At 13:00 hours on Friday the 13th of 2009, I formally became an employee of Opera Software, ASA. My position is Web Evangelist, working on the Developer Relations team. I will be based out of the Mountain View, California office, although I will continue traveling as well as doing workshops and conferences. My job description is exactly what my job has always been: evangelism and outreach for standards and an open, accessible, multi-modal Web.

What is astonishing to me is that for the first time in my career, I am with a company that specifically empowers its employees in regards to open standards. This is quite the change of pace, for as many readers are aware, through my former roles as a group lead for the Web Standards Project (WaSP) and then as a standards consultant to Microsoft, standards evangelism has been an uphill battle with no rest for the weary, no aid for the wounded.

Not so at Opera. I’m working with some of the most talented folks in the business. Henny Swan, Chris Mills, Bruce Lawson, Jon Hicks, and of course Hakon Lie and so many others. The contributions these people have made to the industry and to the world are a light of inspiration, and I am very honored to be part of a company whose core creed is an open Web, and whose developer motto “Follow the Standards / Break the Rules” fits a personality like mine perfectly.

My role at Opera will largely be meeting with people, providing resources on Web standards, organizing events that promote open Web and best practices, and essentially evangelizing the essential truths of the Web that I’ve always held dear: Platform agnostic, user agent agnostic, ability/disability agnostic. Anyone. Anywhere. That’s the vision, and now I have the resources, support and security of a company whose time has truly come.

Of course, this is also the same day that it’s been outed that Microsoft IE8 will blacklist sites where the IE7 compatibility button is used by many people. This means that if you want IE8 readiness, you have to get ready now, or you run the risk of having your sites be on this blacklist, forcing IE7 rendering even if you authored the sites using open standards. So while this post is a personal announcement, anyone working on the Web please read up on this issue and pre-empt a potential blacklist on your site.

People who know me and know the history of how the IE8 opt-in opt-out switch got all, well, switched around will see immediately the irony of today’s events. I really, really want to maintain the belief that when Microsoft made that impressive and unprecedented leap into shipping standards mode as default, that that meant something. That was the result of a lot of hard work, a lot of pain, a lot of fury, and at least one person (me) who is now sitting here wondering if anything I spent the last year and a half of my life doing was helpful. That I am a mix of emotions right now is logical, because I know so many good folks within the IE team who believe. Their struggle is a difficult one and I don’t envy them, but I think this is a significant wrongdoing. A dramatic analogy in my mind is hey, so if I keep stepping on the brakes in my car, eventually I’ll opt out of them working?

All the more reason I’m counting my blessings that I’m with a company that wants standards. I don’t want to battle anymore. I want no more browser wars. I want peace in all the land. Is this an impossible dream? I don’t know, but for the first time in my adult life I am actually an employee to a company other than my own, a decision that was not made lightly. In fact, this is the third time I’ve been offered a job at Opera, so I’m going to remain an optimist, do my vocal exercises, and continue singing for a useful, beautiful, meaningful and interoperable Web.

Aid for Victoria: SitePoint’s 100% Donation Sale

Molly — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 08:54:48 +0000

As many people are aware, the brush fires in Victoria, Australia have killed over 170 people with many more expected, and they’ve left thousands homeless and in need of emergency care.

It is one of the worst natural disasters in Australian history, and SitePoint, based in Melbourne, Victoria is stepping up to help out.

So a sale of any five SitePoint books for $29.95 USD is underway – that’s FIVE books for the price of one, people (and some great book choices there are, too) and 100% of the proceeds are going to bushfire relief. You can read more and get to ordering by visiting SitePoint’s sale site and buying some books!

SitePoint, you’re awesome for being such a caring company, and providing excellent, ongoing resources for Web folks everywhere. Best wishes from here at Molly.Com for comfort, relief and well-being for all.

W3C Validators in Jeopardy

Molly — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:37:00 +0000

As many folks who follow the W3C are aware, financial and bureaucratic issues have challenged the organization for many years. But one thing the W3C has held steady with is its validators, which are regularly and freely utilized by Web designers and developers world over.

It’s come to pass that the funding necessary to maintain and grow validation services at the W3C has become overwhelming to the W3C’s operational budget. As such, the validators are in jeopardy.

But there are ways to help, and this post is a call to action to do just that.

We’ve set up a donation system to allow for a number of different donations concepts: Donor, Sponsored, Community Fundraising, and in the spirit of open source and standards, plenty of opportunity to give of your time and knowledge to assist with the work.

It works like this:

Donor: A donor is anyone interested in donating money to the cause. A micropayment of 1.00 USD if the validator “saves your day” can be very helpful!
Sponsor: A sponsor is a company or organization that donates to the W3C
Community Fundraising: There are two badges available at the W3C that link to the fundraising page. If you support the validator, encourage others by placing a badge on your site and blogging about the topic
Time Not Money: If you cannot or do not wish to donate money, your time is as or even more valuable. There are opportunities to help the W3C maintain and grow validation services.

That we’ve had the use of validation tools via the W3C for so long and without cost has been a significant component in the teaching and evangelism surrounding Web standards and best practices. To lose these tools would impact that message, not to mention take a certain amount of quality assurance away from the process.

For more information about the validator services concern or to become involved, please visit the W3C Validator Donation Program page.

Educational Pathways for Web Professionals

Molly — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:15:36 +0000

Somehow I missed this WOW Tech Minute interview where I discuss with Bill Cullifer education pathways for Web designers and developers. In particular, I’m interested in and discuss how “hybrid” minds develop and evolve. There’s video, audio and text available.

Let me know your thoughts!

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.

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.