Molly Holzschlag

Molly E. Holzschlag (January 25, 1963 – September 5, 2023) was an American author, lecturer and advocate of the Open Web. She wrote or co-authored 35 books on web design and open standards, including The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web (co-authored with Dave Shea). She was nicknamed the "Fairy Godmother of the Web".[1]

Molly Holzschlag
Holzschlag in 2009
Born(1963-01-25)January 25, 1963
DiedSeptember 5, 2023(2023-09-05) (aged 60)
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Occupations
Notable workWrote or co-authored 35 books on web design and open standards, including The Zen of CSS Design
SpouseRaymond Poore[1]
Awards
  • 2016, O'Reilly Web Platform Award
  • 2015, Net Award for Outstanding contribution
  • 1998, named one of the Webgrrls San Francisco chapter's Top 25 Women on the Web

Campaigning for web standards

Holzschlag conceived and led the first five years of Open Web Camp, a free event in Silicon Valley from 2009 to 2013.[2] Her work focused on Open Web technologies, web design, and accessibility.[3] She was the 2004–2006 group lead for the Web Standards Project (WaSP),[4] a coalition that campaigned browser makers such as Microsoft, Opera, and Netscape to support modern web standards. Her obituary in the Tucson Sentinel reported that "more than once, she challenged Bill Gates face-to-face to fix problems with Internet Explorer".[1]

She participated as a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) invited expert on the CSS Working Group,[5] chaired the CSS Accessibility Community Group,[6] and was an invited expert on the HTML and GEO working groups.[7]

Teaching work

In 2011, Holzschlag worked for Knowbility, teaching classes on Open Web technologies such as HTML5 and ARIA, with a strong emphasis on using inclusive design to overcome accessibility barriers.[8] She also taught webmaster courses for the University of Arizona, University of Georgia, University of Phoenix, New School University, and Pima Community College.[9]

Writing

Holzschlag wrote or co-authored 35 books on web design and open standards, including The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web (co-authored with Dave Shea).[10] She also reported on music for the Tucson Weekly in the 1990s.[1]

Personal life

Holzschlag was born on January 25, 1963.[11] She was diagnosed with aplastic anemia in 2014. She had spoken about the problems with health care funding[12][13] and raised over $70,000 through GoFundMe in 2013 to fund her chemotherapy.[1] Holzschlag was found dead at home in Tucson on September 5, 2023, at age 60.[1]

Notable awards
  • 2016, O'Reilly Web Platform Award[14]
  • 2015, Net Award for Outstanding contribution[15]
  • 1998, named one of the Webgrrls San Francisco chapter's Top 25 Women on the Web,[16]

Bibliography
  • Holzschlag, Molly; Clarke, Andy (November 15, 2006). Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design. New Riders. ISBN 9780321410979.
  • Holzschlag, Molly (April 22, 2005). Spring into HTML and CSS. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 9780321604712.

References
  1. Dylan Smith (September 5, 2023). "Tucson's Molly Holzschlag, known as 'the fairy godmother of the web,' dead at 60". Tucson Sentinel. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
  2. "Molly E. Holzschlag (profile)", openwebcamp.com
  3. "Molly E. Holzschlag (speaker profile)", Lanyrd.com
  4. "Molly Holzschlag (WaSP member)", The Web Standards Project
  5. "Members", Cascading Style Sheets Working Group
  6. "CSS Accessibility Community Group", W3C Community and Business Groups, June 12, 2012
  7. Holzschlag, Molly E., "About Molly", Molly.com (Via Archive.org), archived from the original on June 4, 2002
  8. "Molly Holzschlag (Knowbility staff)", Knowbility, archived from the original on May 29, 2012
  9. "Molly E. Holzschlag: Biography", Paper Plus
  10. Shea, Dave; Holzschlag, Molly E. (2005). The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web. New Riders. ISBN 978-0-321-30347-9.
  11. "Molly Holzschlag". Computer Hope. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  12. Hardy, Elle (April 2, 2017). "US health system sending thousands broke". news.com.au.
  13. Boag, Paul (March 10, 2016). "Dealing With The Unexpected In Your Career – Boagworld Show". Boagworld.
  14. "Vivaldi hires Molly E. Holzschlag, 'Fairy Godmother of the Open Web'". Deccan Chronicle. June 24, 2016. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  15. "Winners The Net Awards 2015 Celebrating the best in web design and development". November 23, 2015. Archived from the original on November 23, 2015. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  16. Amy Moon (1998), "San Francisco Webgrrls in SFGate", The San Francisco Chronicle, archived from the original on September 30, 2011
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