SXSWORLD

Web Standards Pioneer to Become First Interactive Hall of Fame Inductee by Bill Simmon Jeffrey Zeldman nascent World Wide Web. Every browser treated code diff erently, so site builders had to design multiple versions of sites to work in each of the popular browsers: one for Netscape, one for Internet Explorer, one for Opera ... Happily, today's web is standardized, and browsers mostly agree rules of the road? What if in Pennsylvania, for instance, you were sup- posed to drive on the left side of the road, and in Tennessee, stop signs were optional? You would have to learn a diff erent set of rules for each of the states through which you passed. Th is is the way it once was for web developers designing sites for the I magine that you have to drive from New York City to Austin. To reach your destination, you will have to drive through at least eight diff erent states. But what if each state had entirely diff erent World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). "My colleagues and I thought one of the problems was that the W3C didn't call anything it made 'standards,' " says Zeldman, referring to the W3C's ratifi cation process of "recommenda- tions." "Where I come from, a recommendation is not the same as a law." Zeldman and his cohorts were able to con- vince the browser makers to adhere to these standards, so that a design that worked in one browser would look and act the same in another. But he still had to convince web developers to follow the new standards as well. Zeldman recalls a time in the late '90s when many of his colleagues were winning awards for sites designed with Flash. "Th ey were making gorgeous websites and winning all the awards and getting all of the attention," he says. "Th ere were times when I asked myself, 'Am I an idiot for thinking HTML is better?' " For a time, Zeldman says he relied on "pure and thrilling to see really beautifully designed sites using HTML and CSS," he says. "Ultimately, HTML won because it was just smarter, and it was simpler." Zeldman attributes his success in bringing designers into the web evangelism and faith," but eventually devel- opers began to come around. "It was exciting on how to interpret HTML and CSS. Th is is due in large part to the work of web designer and standards advocate Jeff rey Zeldman, founder of the web design studio Happy Cog and the popular online magazine A List Apart. In recognition of the importance of his contri- butions to the modern Internet, Zeldman is being inducted into the SXSW Interactive Hall of Fame in March. Zeldman's work on web standards began in the wild-west era of the mid '90s, when the browser market was dominated by early versions of Netscape Navigator. As competing browsers began implementing early versions of CSS and Javascript, they did so unevenly. "(Th ere were) four diff erent ways to make a website," says Zeldman about those early days. "Netscape's not going to stop. IE's not going to stop. Th ey're going to keep on innovating and coming up with features the other browser doesn't off er." So in 1998, Zeldman and a group of peers banded together to form the Web Standards Project, with the goal of convincing browser makers to get on board with the recommended standards set by the 22 SXSW ORLD / FEBRUAR Y 2012 of Fame, Zeldman says he is stunned. "To say I'm honored is a ridicu- lous understatement." He says. "Th ere are lots of people they could have picked. And I'm thrilled and I'll try not to make a fool of myself." ■ Jeffrey Zeldman will be honored as the fi rst inductee into the SXSW Interactive Hall of Fame as part of the 2012 SXSW Interactive Awards Ceremony, to be held on Tuesday, March 13. See sxsw.com/interactive for more details. Zeldman, adding that while all of the various implementations still were not perfect, at least the browser makers were all on board. Th ese days, Zeldman says, things are easier. He points out that because of the ubiquity of mobile devices, users are used to experiencing websites in many diff erent screen sizes and layouts, so designers are not as wor- ried about making the sites identical across all platforms. Th e challenge now, Zeldman says, is one of design. "Designers have to learn to think more fl uidly about design," he says. "How do you design a readable version of your site if half the audience is using a device that could have 500 diff erent screen sizes? You have to not design for the breakpoints of the devices since you can't control those, but think of some other way," he says. "Th at's the challenge." Refl ecting on his imminent induction into the SXSW Interactive Hall standards fold to demonstrating that standards-compliant websites did not have to be ugly. "Early on, there was a lot of hostility between the usability people and the design people," he says. "If I was able to do anything, it was to bring all these groups together and fi nd com- monality in serving the user." "In a way, the Web Standards Project was done by 2002," says TONY QUARTAROLO

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