Wednesday 26 April 2006

Iceland

I’m in Iceland for IceWeb and I’ve taken precious few photos because I’m always either:

• Laughing at Eric’s jokes
• Looking at Andy’s code
• Trying to find my mascara. Because every girl, no matter where she is in the world, needs her mascara.

Okay, all that aside you must see Dave Shea’s breathtaking photos, which take the place of anything and everything I could do.

Iceland is amazing so far, the conference begins in a few hours, and I’m looking to all of you for a bit of lift in my tired gypsy shoes. Talk to me!

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Posted by:   Molly | 22:13 | Comments (42)

Thursday 20 April 2006

Internal and External Web Standards Evangelism

“Corporations . . . will only sound human when they empower real human beings to speak on their behalf.” – Cluetrain Manifesto

Internal web standards evangelists have it the hardest. You know who you are. You work in business, education, government or some other organization. You climb the corporate ladders, battle the academic arrogance, stave off the government paperwork and endure the organizational politics. You hang in there for years and you do not give up.

External web standards evangelists preach in the community commons and hope to catch an ear. External web standards evangelists work on the outside to spread the word about Web standards, accessibility, best practices and professionalism. We hang in there for years, and do not give up.

Both the internal and external evangelist play a critical role in the success of the adoption of standards and best practices in the Web design and development field. Helping each other works even better.

Internal or external?

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Posted by:   Molly | 16:27 | Comments (60)

Friday 14 April 2006

Who Do You Blog For?

it seems that when a blogger develops an audience and gathers a group of friends, colleagues, supporters or critics, that demands begin to be made on that blogger by the audience.

You know about these demands, you’ve found them on your own blog, if you have one. Demands like: Post more often. Post less. Stop blogging. Blog more technical articles. Blog more personal topics. Blog about your cat. Delete rude comments. Don’t delete rude comments. I hate you. I love you. Will you marry me? Will you fuck off?

It goes on and on. And it makes me wonder, at what point do we decide our blogs are in fact no longer our own and modify our behavior to adjust to the audience demand?

Some people see their blogs as a publication, others as having a specific agenda (buy my stuff), others as being wholly personal and up to the whims of the person blogging. Blogs are interesting to me when there is a full personality there, writing about topics that appeal precisely because of the context of an individual’s perspective. Sometimes I’m interested in how to roast great coffee, sometimes I want to share with others their sorrows and joys as well as my own, sometimes it’s all about learning a new CSS technique.

I don’t think there’s any one way to blog, nor is there a right way. I do know any person who keeps a blog should have the right to determine who they’re blogging for and why, and that reading blogs is a bit like T.V. in that if you don’t find what you want on someone’s blog, chances are pretty good you can change the virtual channel and find something that suits you better.

I’m absolutely certain that I blog for myself. My blog is the all-me, all-the-time station. That’s its purpose, and if zero, ten, or ten thousand people read or stopped reading, it wouldn’t matter. I’d blog to an empty house or a full one. For me, blogging is an outlet for all aspects of my nature whether personal or professional, as my blog description clearly states. My desire to please people suggests, at times, that maybe I should let my audience drive my content. But my instinct demands that I stay true to what and who I am, not what others want.

Who do you blog for?

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Posted by:   Molly | 05:20 | Comments (66)

Tuesday 11 April 2006

Aerial Studies

strip mine

Here I go again, taking pictures from the sky.

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Posted by:   Molly | 03:11 | Comments (28)

Friday 7 April 2006

Top Twelve Sexiest Standardistas

Sitting around drinking great wine and chatting with friends after the first day of CalWAC last night, an idea I’ve talked about with others before came up.

The idea would be to choose twelve men and women from the web standards and accessibility realm and create a photographic calendar, which folks could buy and sell. All proceeds would go to an agreed upon charity or charities, especially anything related to the Web and computing.

So the big question is, who would you want to see as the first twelve? Be nice now. Sexy can mean different things to different people.

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Posted by:   Molly | 14:08 | Comments (101)

Wednesday 5 April 2006

Get Naked With Me!

Yes, my blog has the styles turned off for a reason today. That reason would be CSS Naked Day, in which participants turn off their CSS and make their designs go away, leaving only the lovely (hopefully) content beneath.

While not for everyone, nudism has been a passion of humanity for thousands of years. So you might feel a bit shy about being naked your own fine self, but I don’t.

Like you’re surprised!

Read more about the Annual CSS Naked Day from the daring and devilish Dustin Diaz himself.

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Posted by:   Molly | 09:02 | Comments (18)

Sunday 2 April 2006

Got Some Time? Dump Yer Stuff!

Finding I’ve got no room left on my main computer’s hard drive I decided to begin tossing everything I didn’t need. There’s something refreshingly cleansing about a good, thorough computer purge, and I’m recommending it as a spring-clean must-do for everyone.

Here’s what I’ve been tossing:

• Miscellaneous utility apps I downloaded for a spin and never ended up using. Return on space: 500MB
• Big apps I never use that came with packages like Office. I mean, who really uses Project anyway? Return on space: 3GB
• Music I downloaded that I listened to once because someone recommended or it looked interesting, and I’ve never liked it or wanted to listen since. This is a big category because I’m lazy and let the piles build up. Return on space: 5GB. And I could trim it more
• TV Shows / Movies. This stuff takes up huge amounts of space. I’m going to get me a Lacie drive soon for those things I want to keep. Return on space: 10GB

Total return on space: 18.5 GB. I feel so fresh! How about you?

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Posted by:   Molly | 07:01 | Comments (27)