Molly Holzschlag: Spreading The Good Word

Tonight I attended An Evening With Molly Holzschlag, a laid-back, casual discussion with one of the leading figures in the Web industry.

I first met Molly in 2005, at a conference in Sydney called “Web Essentials”. I remember it distinctly because that same day she had delivered a passionate, inspiring, opening keynote presentation titled The State Of The Web (a talk you can listen to while watching the slides, thanks to Patrick Lauke).

At the very beginning of Molly’s talk, I suddenly felt like she was speaking directly to me. She spoke about “finding your place on the Web” — what our role is, and where we fit in. At the time I was trying very hard to wave the web standards flag within an enormous organisation that cared not one iota about developing best practice solutions for its clients.

So it was with some trepidation that I sheepishly approached Molly at the afternoon book signing, hoping that she might sign my copy of The Zen of CSS Design and trying not to gush. And here I met a person who was passionate, approachable and driven to educate, promote and effect real change at the developer level and at the corporate level. She was brash and funny and refused to be placed up on a stool, and while I might have approached her as somewhat of an idol, I left thinking of her as a friend. (Incidentally, on the same day I also met the guys from SitePoint, and the question “What is your place on the Web?” was answered a month later when I joined the team as a technical editor.)

Two and a half years on, Molly is still doing what she does — educating, inspiring, advocating and lobbying. She might be a little more jaded about the people and parties concerned (she has been battling many highly political issues lately) but her belief in the Web as a fundamental medium of change that is owned by the people is unchanged, and her optimism unwavering.

If you work on the Web and you ever get the chance to meet Molly or see her speak, then I highly encourage you to take that opportunity. If you’re in New Zealand, Molly is speaking at Webstock next week.

Thanks everyone for coming along tonight, and thanks again Molly for giving me the jolt of motivation that I needed to get enthusiastic about the Web again. It really is an amazing medium that is easy to take for granted.

posted: 06.02. 2008, 23:58 (0)