Tuesday 29 September 2009

Why Bottom Posting Sucks

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.

1. Inline posting. In this style, the responder answers queries or provides insight throughout the document.
2. 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.
3. 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.

Filed under:   accessibility, policies, pop culture, professional, revolution, society, software
Posted by:   Molly | 17:24 | Comments (61)

Tuesday 14 July 2009

HTML5 & XHTML5: MIME is The Answer

Currently, all the HTML5 / XML “serialization” stuff simply boils down to two straight-forward rules:

1. If HTML5 using HTML syntax is served with MIME type text/html This is HTML serialization.
2. If HTML5 using XML syntax is served with MIME type application/xhtml+xml then this is XML.

Disclaimer on all things series 5: I might be wrong now. Then again, I might be right in five minutes.

Filed under:   HTML5, XHTML, browsers, software, standards, w3c, web design and development, whatwg
Posted by:   Molly | 04:18 | Comments (16)

Tuesday 30 June 2009

HTML5: Best of the Minute

Damn, you cannot please all the browsers all the time. Funny, those browser beasts. They do stuff, then they do it again and change it. Or, they do it and you can’t talk about it.

If my Baloney has a first name, it’s HTML5! This is the best I can do at the moment, please and thank you.

Some sort of realistic support charts on a few HTML5 things I think are interesting.

Just remember, I didn’t lie and tell you I was right. Because as I quoted from Cowboy Wisdom in my #atmedia talk recently:

Never trust a man who agrees with you. He’s probably wrong.

Comment at will.

Filed under:   HTML5, browsers, conferences, cults of personality, humor, software, standards, w3c, web design and development, whatwg
Posted by:   Molly | 01:48 | Comments (16)

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.

1. Create a user CSS file that sets the Twitter Follower link to display: none;
2. Choose a Twitter client that doesn’t show how many followers you actually have, or makes it difficult to find that information
3. Never, ever seek out your numbers or stats using Twitter stats tools
4. Only follow those people you genuinely are interested in
5. 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)

Saturday 11 April 2009

Why is this Browser Different from All Other Browsers?

As folks might be aware, there’s a passage during the Passover seder where children ask about the meaning of Passover, using a series of four questions with an introductory question:

Why is this night different than all other nights?

So I’m thinking “hey, this would be great fun to turn into a Passover/Easter game” surrounding your favorite, or not so favorite, Web browsers. So let’s ask the primary question, and you come up with answers.

Why is this browser different than all other browsers?

If you’d like to take it a bit further and play off of the four questions themselves all the more fun we can have!

Maybe if we are sincere enough in our query, a Web standards prophet will come to lead us all to browser freedom.

Filed under:   humor, software, standards, web design and development
Posted by:   Molly | 04:21 | Comments (13)

Thursday 19 March 2009

Which Browser do You Use?

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.)

Filed under:   browsers, ie8, microsoft, molly asks you, opera, software, standards, web design and development
Posted by:   Molly | 16:17 | Comments (103)

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)

Saturday 7 March 2009

Five Favorite HTML Elements

Today I’m in a “gee, I feel like starting a conversation about HTML” mood, so g’wan. List your top five favorite HTML elements from any version of HTML (including 5). Describe why you love this element, how you tend to use it (or if it’s obsolete, why you wish it weren’t), and include any tips for styling, scripting or cross-browser issues regarding the element.

Your list should contain only HTML elements, but your descriptions can include any CSS or script samples, links to your  own work (go ahead, show off your stuff!) and any other related techniques you’d like to talk about.

There’s a book, t-shirt and other swag available to the top three most interesting entries. There’s nothing fair about the way I’ll give these out, it’ll be based solely on the top three responses I think are most interesting, useful or in need of an in-depth response.

Ready, set, GO!

Filed under:   HTML, browsers, css, giveaways and fun, javascript, nmby, software, standards, w3c
Posted by:   Molly | 20:51 | Comments (53)

Friday 13 February 2009

I Am an Opera Singer

“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.

Filed under:   announcement, browsers, community, ie8, microsoft, professional, society, software, standards, web design and development
Posted by:   Molly | 21:04 | Comments (84)

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 11 December 2008

W3C Validators in Jeopardy

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.

Filed under:   announcement, community, professional, society, software, standards, w3c
Posted by:   Molly | 12:37 | Comments (85)

Tuesday 9 December 2008

Registration for January HTML Course Open

The HTML 4.01 Foundations course is available in a new format for January!

Read all about it and get signed up at WebWithMolly. If you have any questions or concerns you can ask them here or at the email provided on the sign-up page.

New year, new fun

Filed under:   accessibility, announcement, browsers, microsoft, professional, software, standards, web design and development
Posted by:   Molly | 14:03 | Comments (30)

Monday 8 December 2008

Ooh, Look, Standards ROI at Microsoft!

Here’s a little ditty I whipped up for the fab folks at MIX for your non-standard awareness enjoyment. A nice quick read and something to take to the boss, too!

Check out “Where the ROI is” and leave a nice note to Microsoft and MIX for not just wanting this sort of material, but actually asking for it.

Maybe, just maybe I left a little mark on the Microsoft wall as I tumbled out the door in June?

Filed under:   MIX09, community, microsoft, professional, standards, w3c, web design and development
Posted by:   Molly | 14:51 | Comments (17)

Sunday 7 December 2008

Web Courses Update: Minor Model Change

Just to let folks know we’ve had a small group of people for the first class testing the system.

I’ve decided to make some changes that will allow more people access to the classes and live support by modifying the model slightly as follows:

• Students will be able to self-study any time
• I will have live discussion groups three days a week at diverse times to accommodate international student time concerns and so on.

The other advantage of this is there can be more courses going on at once too. The costs will remain the same for typical courses.

More info soon!

Filed under:   announcement, professional, software, standards, web design and development
Posted by:   Molly | 12:26 | Comments Off

Tuesday 23 September 2008

Web Standards 2008: Three Circles of Hell

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!

Filed under:   WaSP, accessibility, ajax, announcement, browsers, how we will be, javascript, microsoft, molly asks you, professional, standards, w3c, web design and development, whatwg
Posted by:   Molly | 08:29 | Comments Off