My First Real Celebrity Spottings – 10 Years in CSS
From the DDM Blog …
So I’m sitting here in a SxSW panel with Doug Bowman, Molly Holzschlag, Eric Meyer, and some tool from Microsoft (he just called himself a tool … I’m not just being mean.) He’s actually Chris Wilson, an IE Platform Architect. He seems nice enough, and I’m trying to get over my predetermined hatred of him based on his employment.
I’m sitting in the front row, about five feet from web design/development royalty. To be totally honest, my primary emotion at the moment is envy – I want to be on that panel! I want to be a celebrity! How petty. Ah well, back to the panel …
The panel description reads, “It’s been just over ten years since CSS1 was finalized, and almost 11 since the first CSS-supporting browser was shipped. A small group of grizzled veterans reflects on a decade of successes, triumphs, failures, disappointments, reversals of fortune, and just plain fun in the world of CSS and web design. Warning: may include surprising historical information, residual kvetching about past mistakes, and context for interpreting the next ten years.†It’s a fun walk down CSS memory lane, and it’s especially fun to see the personalities behind these A-listers.
Molly asserts that the number-one piece that is missing from CSS is more powerful layout tools – specifically support for columns and more print-layout type possibilities (yeah! … and how about support for multiple background images while we’re at it). Doug says the number-one missing piece is support for variables and constants – interesting, coming from someone who is primarily a designer. Chris, ironically enough, says that the most difficult thing about CSS is compatibility – both cross-browser and backward.
Bottom line: I didn’t necessarily learn anything, but I definitely enjoyed myself (at least, as much as I could on this side of the panel table). ;~)
Post Panel Note: I got to talk with Doug Bowman and tell him how much I admired him and how great he had been to me when I was just starting out with CSS and he would answer completely silly questions from me via email personally … very cool! Then I talked with Molly and she was so friendly! To my great joy, she asked me why I wasn’t up here on the panel! I told her I’d try to be there next here and she took me card and said, “Let’s make that happen.” Whooo Hooo!!! =)
