Last week, I was lucky enough to be granted a short email interview with Eric Meyer. Some of you might have noticed that his name came up a few times last week; well now you know why! In this interview, Eric talks about where he sees CSS moving as well as his work life after having another baby girl. If you have any additional questions, leave a comment and - just maybe - Eric might respond. No promises!
Who Is This Guy?
Sure. There might be three or four of you out there. In a few sentences, Eric is a world-renowned expert on CSS and HTML. Having written a half dozen books on the subject, he frequently speaks at conferences across the world. Currently, he lives in Cleveland, Ohio where he serves as the principal consultant for "Complex Spiral Consulting".
The Interview
What projects are you currently working on?
An Event Apart is the biggest project, since it's always evolving and new challenges come up all the time. Some of which we impose on ourselves, of course! Also, I was recently quite deeply involved in the organization of the second annual A List Apart Survey, which everyone in the field should take without delay.
I've been working on a proposal to expand linking capabilities in HTML 5, complete with demo file; and I have a few WordPress plugins that could use more attention, most especially "Adminimize". Writing-wise, I have a pretty strong idea for a mini-book that I'm hoping to finally tackle one of these months, and I'm laying the groundwork for a fourth edition of "CSS: The Definitive Guide" that I expect will add quite a bit of material. How much gets added will largely be up to how much and in what ways browsers advance over the next year or so.
Considering the fact that it is 2008, and we've only recently begun to see support for rounded corners, do you think that CSS may become obsolete in the next several years?
Not really, no. I've no doubt it will be replaced some day, but nothing seems to be even jockeying for that position right now, let alone mounting a serious challenge. And before someone says either "Silverlight" or "Air", I believe those will be about as successful at replacing CSS+HTML as were Flash and PDF, and for the same reasons. I'm more concerned that CSS may, along with HTML, become utterly stagnant-- nay, ossified-- in the next few years. I hope not, but the concern is there.
Is there any new technology that you're excited about?
Aren't I required to say something about the 3G iPhone here? I think that's a law now. In a sort of theoretical way, what fires me up the most these days is the proliferation of web service APIs and how they let us connect data sources and information streams together to do interesting things. I say "theoretical" because I'm not a very good programmer, so doing that kind of stuff is really hard for me. I'll keep trying, though.
I'm pretty excited about eInk devices, too. Whatever one thinks of the Kindle, the display technology is pretty awesome from power-conservation, persistence, and legibility points of view.
Then there are self-organizing ad-hoc sensor networks, which I find utterly fascinating and somewhat disturbing. If I get out of the web field, I might take a swing at that area. And have you seen the BigDog video? Whoa!
How has the addition of another baby in your household affected your work-life?
Since I work from home, it's made it harder to find long stretches of time in which to work, so I've started to develop a more atomic approach to everything. Any task of medium to long duration has to be broken down into small components that I can take individually. This is a good thing, since one of my long-running weaknesses has been a problem with breaking big tasks down into small ones.
If you could offer only one bit of advice to an up and comer, what would it be?
Learn the craft, by which I mean the languages that underlie the whole shootin' match; and practice 'til your fingers are ready to fall off. There's no substitute for experience.
Thanks again to Eric for granting us this interview! Being self taught, Eric was one of my very first "teachers" - via his book, "Eric Meyer On CSS". Since then, I've kept up with his career to the best of my ability. Be sure to follow him on Twitter if you aren't already. To learn a bit more, you can visit his website and/or purchase one of his successful books on web development.
Want to be interviewed by us? Do you have some experience that you'd like to pass on? Contact Us and we'll talk further!
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Greg August 12th
This is a great article. Eric Meyer is a talented guy :).
- Greg
James August 12th
Top quote of the interview: “practice ’til your fingers are ready to fall off.” … Great!
Thanks for taking the time to get inerviewed Eric!!! It was a great interview… I would of liked to hear what Eric thought about HTML5 and how it would fit into the current trends of front-end development though…
Oh and I am sooo glad to hear that he is opposed to Air and Silverlight - So many people think that’s the future - exactly the same as the Flash hype a few years ago!
Andrew Houle August 12th
Nice Interview, very enjoyable read.
Jeffrey Way August 12th
Sliverlight is absolutely intriguing….but I’ve been hesitant to really delve into it.
James August 12th
Yes, but even Microsoft don’t appear to have confidence in it (even though they “invented” it) - they don’t use it on their XBOX site (they use Flash!)
Shane August 12th
Eric = Genius
Eric Meyer August 12th
I wouldn’t say I’m opposed to Silverlight or Air so much as I just don’t seem them as replacing HTML and CSS, so they’re not really candidates for making CSS obsolete. They’re far more likely to make Flash obsolete, and I don’t think that’s too likely until Adobe decides to discontinue Flash in favor of Air, assuming they do so. (I think they will, eventually, but over a long period of time.)
So I’d say I’m largely indifferent rather than opposed. The slowly growing support for SVG and canvas is more interesting to me, especially in light of the new Raphaël library.
Jeffrey Way August 12th
Yeah - I’m very interested in the Raphael library. Very, very cool stuff.
Jeffrey Way August 12th
Speaking of which - I had planned on doing a quick tip on that library either this or next week.
Terry Kent August 12th
“lucky enough to be granted an interview”? The guy isn’t a celebrity.
Jeffrey Way August 12th
@Terry - Sure he is!
CELEBRITY: A famous or well-known person.
Yep, that qualifies. He is a celebrity in this industry. Thanks for your thoughts, though.
Dan August 12th
Great stuff, thanks to all who made this little interview possible
Terry Kent August 12th
I disagree, a celebrity is a famous or well-known person with a high degree of public and media attention. In the industry, he’s a giant, sure. However I’m sure we could all contact him without scheduling an interview through a manager or publicist.
I enjoyed the interview, as he’s done brilliant work. I just don’t think we need to place him on a pedestal above everyone else.
James August 12th
@Terry - Let’s put it this way - I would rather read an interview of Eric Meyer than of President Bush or Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts etc. etc.
The extent to which someone is considered a “celebrity” is totally dependent on the perspective. Like Jeffrey said, within this industry, Eric Meyer is a celebrity - Every web developer/designer worth their salt will know his name!
Rob August 12th
It’s always interesting to hear from experts in these sort of fields. I think I understand where Terry is coming from though; phrases like “lucky enough” and “granted” make it seem like your having this interview with Eric is some sort of rare, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity… like shaking hands with the Pope or seeing a celestial event that occurs once every 500 years.
Oh, and I didn’t know his name. I guess I’m not a web developer / designer worth my salt
Then again, I’m more the type who follows the technology, and not so much who is behind the technology.
Jeffrey Way August 12th
My definition of “celebrity” is more accurate. Dictionary.com??
@Rob - I’m hardly placing him on a pedestal next to the Pope. What a thing to say because I used the word “lucky”. He is a giant in this field, and I was lucky to get an interview with him for this site.
Craigsnedeker August 12th
Very cool
Shane August 12th
Great to see you on nettuts Eric. I am one of the many who’s read your books and online material.
By day, I’m a .NET web developer (by night, I swing towards PHP and Wordpress, amongst other, non-Microsoft technologies).
I wholeheartedly agree with you about Silverlight. Being Microsoft-driven, it was always going to be on my radar. It’s obviously easier for .NET developers to adopt than Flash, but the end-result has Flash’s deficiencies (and strengths.)
Ben Griffiths August 12th
An interesting read into the life of an industry icon, many thanks
Robert Pasbani August 12th
Loved the read, but why the italics for his responses? Got a bit annoying to read.
Ryan Imel August 12th
Nice read. I’d say I’m most looking forward to the books he’s working on, although I would love to make it to another AEA sometime. I went to last year’s event in Chicago and thought it was awesome.
B August 12th
I hate to sound like the opposing team over here, but I recently attended the Boston An Event Apart and didn’t think it was that great at all. Eric’s speech was very dry and boring. He might have some good stuff to say, but the problem is he doesn’t communicate that well. I would say out of the 10 or so people that spoke only Andy Budd, Christopher Fahey and Jared Spool were good enough to stick around for. Back to Eric…if you’re reading this, please construct a more exciting presentation to keep us awake. You might have something good to say and I wouldn’t know it because I fell asleep. You’re an analytical guy talking to room full of graphic designers and maybe some full time coders. Improve your performance and tell the rest of the An Event Apart to shape up and I might be back next year.
Afe August 12th
The BigDog video was awesome! Oh, and Eric Meyer is pretty awesome too.
Nate August 12th
That bigdog video was sick lol. There were a couple other good videos on there as well. Eric is the man when it comes to CSS. He’s definitely a front runner.
liquid06 August 12th
I thought the big dog video was a little scary.
My takeaway from this? “Practice until your fingers are ready to fall off”
Good advice.
Mukarram August 12th
He is simply awesome.
What’s Next ? Eric
insic August 13th
he is so hot! lol
Alex August 13th
I’ve not heard anything about how Silverlight or AIR could replace HTML/CSS. I’m not very well versed in Silverlight, but Flash, Flex and AIR are what I work with all day long. All three of those technologies use CSS all over the place. Flash uses it for text and some component styling. Flex has CSS woven through it for styling many properties, and AIR either uses HTML/CSS/JS or it uses a swf (which Flash/Flex output).
Seems to be fairly reliant on CSS to me.
@James: Microsoft isn’t using Silverlight on it’s website due to market penetration rates. Flash Player 9 (newest non-beta player) has a penetration rate of over 90%, which means far more people can view the website than if they had gone with Silverlight.
My only experience with Silverlight comes through a couple of co-workers (also developers) who have used it. Their stance on it is that Microsoft has created a good development tool, but it sucks for designers to use. That’s something Adobe has no problems with - they’ve been building tools for developers AND designers for quite some time now, and it shows.
cheese August 13th
“we’ve only recently begun to see support for rounded corners”
We have what now?
Jeffrey Way August 13th
@cheese - What are you confused about? We’re only just now beginning to see CSS support for rounded corners.
cheese August 13th
Where can I get these rounded corners you speak of
Jeffrey Way August 13th
Firefox = -moz-border-radius: 25px;
Safari = -webkit-border-radius: 25px;\
It’s not widespread yet…but eventually.
Refer to http://www.css3.info/preview/rounded-border/
for more information.
Jonathan August 13th
@Jeffrey
Once in a while something comes along and blows me away. Thanks for the rounded corner link and mention. This is gonna make life so much easier!
Jeffrey Way August 13th
@Jonathon - Just keep in mind that it will only work in Firefox and Safari…at least for now. There is no equivalent for IE. Personally, I like to use it as an added bonus….in a situation where it doesn’t really matter if the box is rounded or not. Glad it helped!
Jason August 14th
That robot is ace! good interview btw, even the iphone got a bit of a mention
Jonathan August 14th
@Jeffrey
My thoughts exactly, as a added bonus to reward Firefox/Safari Users.
w1sh August 14th
That Raphael Library is f*cking sick. :O
LonelySchnozz August 16th
Stu Nichols has been fiddling with rounded borders for years: http://www.cssplay.co.uk/boxes/snazzy2.html
CSS3 has made it soooo much easier:)
Todd August 16th
Notice most of the negative comments do not have links to a personal website. Ashamed or embarrassed? Or perhaps just someone who wants to cry over something so minuscule and minute such as someone considering Eric Meyer “a celebrity”.
I attended AEA Boston and was impressed. All the speakers had my full attention and were excellent. I got to meet all of them and they were approachable, warm and friendly, and I wouldn’t say “celebrity” status, but they certainly are the creme of the crop in our industry.
@B: So how someone could consider AEA “didn’t think it was that great at all” should probably stay home next time and let someone who would love the chance to go have that seat, correct? I’d like to see you get up there and present something in front of a room packed with 500+ people. Please, I’d invite you to and I’ll even do it myself, even with a public speaking phobia.
“Eric’s speech was very dry and boring. He might have some good stuff to say, but the problem is he doesn’t communicate that well.”
I beg to differ. Like I said, let’s see you up there next year with a keynote presentation.
“I would say out of the 10 or so people that spoke only Andy Budd, Christopher Fahey and Jared Spool were good enough to stick around for. Back to Eric…if you’re reading this, please construct a more exciting presentation to keep us awake. You might have something good to say and I wouldn’t know it because I fell asleep.”
Then you wasted a seat.
“You’re an analytical guy talking to room full of graphic designers and maybe some full time coders.”
There were more than just designers and coders there, remember one of the speakers asking the room who did what? (Don’t remember exactly who, think it was J. Zeldman - correct me if I am wrong).”
“Improve your performance and tell the rest of the An Event Apart to shape up and I might be back next year.”
Do everyone a favor and stay home. Let someone who wants the seat have the seat and you can stay home and let your skills speak for themselves. Only if you had something to show the rest of us.
@ Terry Kent: “I disagree, a celebrity is a famous or well-known person with a high degree of public and media attention. In the industry, he’s a giant, sure. However I’m sure we could all contact him without scheduling an interview through a manager or publicist.”
Uh, so what do you call the author of a couple books and one who travels a lot doing public speaking engagements along with a high level of consulting gigs? Plus, not every “Hollywood celebrity” that you have your mind set on comparing this to has a publicist or manager. You’ve just contradicted yourself because Eric does indeed have a level of public and media attention.
“I enjoyed the interview, as he’s done brilliant work. I just don’t think we need to place him on a pedestal above everyone else.”
You, personally, do not have to. Others might. that’s the beauty of individualism, not everyone has to think like Terry Kent does, nor hold the same values and ideals on things such as Terry Kent.
Do I place him on a pedestal. Indeed I do. Why? Because his books and reading his website have helped me immensely with what I do and in my career. I was able to meet with and have the extreme privilege to talk to Eric at AEA in Boston and once the “hey, I’m talking to one of the people I admire in this industry” effect wore off, he, and every other speaker I mingled with (Jeffrey Zeldman, Andy Budd, Jeffrey Veen, Ethan Marcotte, Jason Santa Maria, etc.) was just like talking to a friend or an ordinary person like you or I. I still hold them above myself because of what they have taught me.
I like the interview, although short, but AEA SF is coming up, so I doubt he had time for anything more in-depth. Nice job, Jeffrey. Though I’d like to see a little less whining from those who have something to bitch about like semantics of who calls who what and how a person speaks while they’re sleeping through a presentation. If you’re going to whine, just don’t read it and skip commenting about it without showing the rest of us what you got to back up what you’re whining about (e.g.: a link to a site you have).
I’ll get off my soapbox now.
Taylor Satula August 21st
Very good interview loved it. Eric seems like a nice guy
James August 21st
Taylor! “Eric seems like a nice guy” - Oh, is that all you got from the interview! lol
@Todd - OMG Respect++
Todd September 14th
Eric is a nice guy, I had the pleasure of meeting him and talking with him.
@James: Thanks.
simplechris September 16th
Always good to hear from the man himself! So many designers and developers have learned skills (indirectly) from Eric.
His books and articles have always helped keep me standards focused.
Kudos to Envato for setting this up!
Chris Cavallucci October 6th
Met Eric at the Web Symposium in Philly this past summer. He is really nice guy. I have tremendous respect for him and his contributions to the web design community.
Thanks for the interview and link to the Boston Dynamics work — those are the most impressive robots I’ve ever seen.
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