I asked some questions to Molly Holzschlag. Here is the interview.
- What's your work at Opera Software?
My work at Opera Software is with the Developer Relations team - we work to evangelize web standards and emerging technologies.
- Opera is surely one of the most standard-compliant browsers on the web. Do you think it's really hard to be standard-compliant
for a browser?
Yes, to be standards compliant means to try and compete in a world where most sites and applications were built with the best options of the day - which means they weren't always standards-oriented.
- The W3C promotes interoperability between user-agents. Do you think that interoperability is a necessary requirement?
I believe interoperability it the first and foremost requirement. It is the essence of the Web.
- You're also member of the WaSP. What are today the main goals of this association?
I left WaSP a few years ago to work directly with browser companies. First Microsoft as a consultant, and now cozy at home with Opera as an employee. I could no longer be a leader at WaSP while taking money from browser vendors. A clear conflict of interest. So I left the group, although I am considered "Emerita" and I'm very proud of that. Today, the main goals of the association is education and global awareness via InterACT and global bridges for translations.
- W3C specifications are sometimes hard to understand for web developers (as it's often been said). Do you think that it would be necessary to write some guidelines that explains what every single specification is meant to or, alternatively, a guide for every
specification?
Yes, I am absolutely certain that an outreach to from the W3C to "in-the-wild" designers and developers is necessary for the survival of our entire industry. The separation is detrimental. We very much need to "Mind The Gap"
- Finally, you're one of the most influent women on the web. What do you think the role of women is in today web?
Women, men, everyone of any identity has something to contribute to the Web. Why? Because the Web is essentially human. Whatever we are will be made manifest in the Web. Our beauty, our hatred, our goodness, our cruelty, our confusion, our clarity, our wars and our ultimate peace.