interview: molly holzschlag
From GEnie to accomplished author and web designer
February, 2001.
By Meryl K. Evans. (Link to original article.)
When hypertext markup was introduced as a way to navigate between documents and structure its contents, who knew that it was the start of a completely new industry? Unfortunately, in the excitement to build this new industry, HTML development ran rampant, and things got a little out of control. Luckily, we have Molly Holzschlag, a definitive expert on all things HTML, to explain how XHTML will steer things back on course.
ibiz: You got your online start with GEnie (General Electric Customer Service) in 1990 as a SYSOP (Systems Operator). How did you get to that point and join the online world prior to the Internet invasion of the mid-90s?
Molly: You know, I never had even the most remote intentions of working with computers. Teaching, writing, making music, these are the things that most interest me. But I became quite ill in my early 20s and was largely homebound for a few years.
I was somewhat isolated and my family gave me a Commodore 64 computer. A friend gave me 300-baud external modem. I had seen a list of BBSes in a local computer magazine, and I called a few. Then, I joined Commodore/Amiga's online community called Q-Link and saw live chat for the first time. It was awesome to me to see people from all parts of the world in real-time conversations. What especially appealed to me was the global aspect of it, and the fact that despite my personal circumstances, I could find a social outlet. I was seriously hooked!
A friend of mine turned me on to GEnie and I somehow ended up a SysOp there, as well as running a few BBSes in the early 90s. What a blast! I miss those simpler online days.
ibiz: There are so many newsletters and e-zines covering web design available today, how does WebReview manage to distinguish itself and remain so successful among its competitors?
Molly: WebReview.com understands that people working on the Web need to solve problems, and they need to do it now. While a reader might represent a single-person shop, our largest readership consists of people who work in teams. So not only do they need practical solutions, but they need them in the context of teamwork. We strive to address these goals, and I feel we're doing a great job at that.
Of course, there's always a danger in trying to be too many things to too many people, but I think we've narrowed it down enough to cover four solid areas of Web work: Web authors, designers, developers, and strategists. We hone in on those roles and provide timely and accurate information. We're also a weekly, which gives us an advantage over monthly pubs in that we're more timely, and an advantage over daily pubs in that we can take a little more care with our editorial
ibiz: Webreview.com is part of CMP Media, Inc., which has many websites and newsletters. Many large websites offer free newsletters, tutorials and more without bombarding users with ads or asking for anything in return. How do businesses like CMP Media, Inc. produce revenue to maintain these efforts?
Molly: Well, that's a big question. Being part of a major technology company, we do have access to resources. But as with any publication, we have to show growth. We are currently an ad-driven site, and we are looking into some other potential revenue streams to improve our revenue options. We, like any ad-driven publication, rely on revenue to survive.
ibiz: How did you expand your own growth further to authoring books, teaching classes and designing websites?
Molly: GEnie began to build an Internet gateway, and I was involved in helping out with that. I was also starting to explore the Internet. Mind you, this was pre-Web. We were using things like Gopher, Veronica, Archie, FTP, and newsgroups. When the Web emerged as an alternative to Gopher, I began working with HTML. It wasn't very long before Mosaic hit the scene and the Web became visual. Having an academic background in communications and at the time studying media design, the Web immediately appealed to me, so I began a Web design company in 1994.
By 1995 I was working with Desert.Net as the design director there as well as running communities on the Microsoft Network. I loved every busy minute of it!
One day, out of the blue, I got a book offer from Prima Publishing. At first I truly thought it was some person playing a practical joke. I mean, I was a fairly inexperienced writer and here was a book offer in email in 1995. But it was very real. I jumped on it. And the rest, as they say, is history.
ibiz: Tell us about your new book.
Molly: My most recent book is Special Edition Using XHTML. I think this book is the perfect choice for the Web designer interested in learning how to author and design documents properly as well as expand his or her horizons beyond the Web and into the alternative device/wireless world. Newcomers can certainly learn a great deal from it, as can very advanced developers, but it's really geared as an intermediate book to get folks already familiar with HTML up to speed with XHTML and prepared for the future.
This book would have been the 7th edition of my "Special Edition Using HTML," but XHTML 1.0 came along, so what I did is take the most relevant material from the sixth edition of SE Using HTML, update it to reflect the changes that have affected markup, and add new material to round out the book's goals.
ibiz: What is the focus of Que's "Special Edition" edition series?
Molly: The Special Edition Using Series provides high-quality, beginning to intermediate level books on a wide range of computer topics. The main thrust of these books is that they focus on real-world rather than purely technical topics. It's not just why a given technology or software program works, but how it works, and how you can make it work for you.
ibiz: There are so many XHTML-related books out there now. What makes your book unique or different from other books on XHTML?
Molly: In particular, I think there are two things that will attract people to my book. First is the real-world context. I spend a lot of time speaking from serious experience with certain parts of the technology. I'm also a teacher, so my style tends to be very good for folks who are interested in making a book a learning experience rather than a reference or more standards-oriented book.
I also believe that if a person is truly interested in a topic, that person will read more than one book. I can't count how many HTML books I have, and there are a few I use regularly when I need a specific type of insight or approach.
The book is very comprehensive in that it looks not only at XHTML as a means to marking up web documents, but also discusses web design issues, and related technologies. There is a general overview of XML, chapters on SMIL, SVG, XHTML Basic and future implementations of XHTML, such as modularization. It's a very holistic approach to the subject, as it currently exists.
ibiz: Can you expand on "modularization?"
Molly: Modularization of XHTML is the breakdown of markup into discrete chunks of familiar portions. Examples are forms, tables, frames, images or text. Through the use of a custom Document Type Definition (DTD) or XML schema, only the modules necessary for a given application are used. So, if you want to create a project for wireless delivery to a pager, you will only include those modules necessary to accomplish the job. This streamlines and focuses the markup.
More on XHTML, web design and the future
ibiz: Is there a common mistake you see in Web design? In XHTML? If so, please describe.
Molly: There are many mistakes made on the Web in terms of visual design. The most common include poor placement of navigation, poor navigation design and information architecture, poor use of visual space, poor use of color and type, and lack of consistency.
The funny thing about XHTML is that you can't make mistakes, because if you do, it isn't XHTML! You have to follow the rules. The most common problems or pitfalls come from old HTML habits dying hard: forgetting trailing slashes in empty elements, letting uppercase elements or attributes slip by, forgetting to properly quote attribute values, using attributes and values that are incorrect for a given XHTML 1.0 (DTD) Document Type Definition.
ibiz: How do you see XHTML in the big picture of web design? Is it something you favor over the other options?
Molly: XHTML 1.0 is perfect for those Web authors looking to create structured, consistent documents and promote support of and for W3C recommendations. XHTML is also a great way to transition skill sets from HTML to more abstract XML concepts with relative ease, because the actual vocabulary used in XHTML is HTML--it's familiar stuff with just a few changes.
However, for the visual designer, XHTML has some problems. These are due mostly to the fact that proprietary attributes that are in use in HTML have been left out--usually in favor of CSS. However, if that particular CSS property doesn't work well in most browsers, designers might be compromised.
A good example of this is the use of margin attributes in the body element. You can't use topmargin="x" because it doesn't exist in XHTML 1.0, and you can't rely on CSS support for margins in most browsers. So essentially, designers lose control of margins, and that's a huge problem in visual design.
ibiz: Where do you see XHTML going in the next year or so? XML, Java and ASP are fast becoming THE thing to do for web design. Will that affect XHTML?
Molly: The thing to remember about XHTML is that it is XML. XML is a meta-language. In other words, it's a markup language that is used to create other applications. XHTML is an application of XML and is therefore XML in essence. Of course, there's a lot more to XML than what appears in XHTML 1.0, so expect to see XHTML to be more influenced by XML's methodologies. Modularization is a big part of XHTML's future.
Java and ASP don't affect markup directly. Java is a programming language used for a wide range of things--many not even related to the Web, and ASP is a server-side application methodology. While these things will be used (and are used) in tandem with client-side markup, they don't directly influence the way that markup evolves.
ibiz: What advice do you have for the designer who can't decide what type of design or specialization to focus on?
Molly: I'm asked this question every day, and I never know how to answer it fairly. I think it boils down to philosophy and not practicality: do what turns you on and the rest will follow.
ibiz: What is the current status of web design? The flaws? The strengths?
Molly: The biggest problem still in web design at present is that designers are rarely thinking about audience, product, and intent. They overlook the preliminary process and jump right in. That causes a lot of problems, and a lot of sites that don't work well for their visitors.
I love beauty. But I love the deep greens, blues, and bright florals of a New Jersey summer as much as I love the stark, naked deserts of southern Nevada. Sometimes a rich design is in order, sometimes plain is best. And the only way to know that is to understand your audience, your product, and the intent of your site.
ibiz: What are your thoughts on the future of web design and the Internet?
Molly: Wireless and mobile are the next big hype, and it's interesting stuff. At the same time, the shift in focus can offer a lot of opportunities for web design and development to stabilize. I hope that's what happens.
ibiz: Thanks Molly!
