Eric A. Meyer

The professional bio:

Eric A. Meyer has been working with the web since late 1993 and is an internationally recognized expert on the subjects of HTML, CSS, and web standards. A widely read author, he was technical lead at Rebecca’s Gift, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing healing family vacations after the death of a child; and was, along with Jeffrey Zeldman, co-founder of the web conference series An Event Apart (2005–2021).

Beginning in early 1994, Eric was the visual designer and campus web coordinator for the Case Western Reserve University website, where he authored a widely acclaimed series of HTML tutorials and was project coordinator for the online version of the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History combined with the Dictionary of Cleveland Biography, the first example of an encyclopedia of urban history being fully and freely published on the web.

Author of Design For Real Life (A Book Apart), Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide (O’Reilly & Associates), Smashing CSS (Wiley), Eric Meyer on CSS and More Eric Meyer on CSS (New Riders), CSS2.0 Programmer’s Reference (Osborne/McGraw-Hill), and CSS Web Site Design (Peachpit), as well as numerous articles for A List Apart, Net Magazine, Netscape DevEdge, UX Booth, UX Matters, the O’Reilly Network, Web Techniques, and Web Review, Eric also created the classic CSS Browser Compatibility Charts (a.k.a. “The Mastergrid”) and coordinated the authoring and creation of the W3C’s first official CSS Test Suite. He has conducted customized training for a wide variety of organizations and has delivered keynotes and technical talks at numerous conferences around the world. In 2006, he was inducted into the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for “international recognition on the topics of HTML and CSS” and helping to “inform excellence and efficiency on the Web.” In December 2014, he accidentally touched off Slate’s Internet Outrage of the Day.

In his personal time, Eric acts as List Chaperone of the css-discuss mailing list. Eric lives with his family in Cleveland, Ohio, which is a much nicer city than you’ve heard. He’s a staunch defender of the Oxford comma, the hard G in “GIF”, and the right of everyone everywhere to follow a sentence with however many spaces they deem proper. He enjoys a good meal whenever he can and considers almost every form of music to be worthwhile.

I’ve been a member of the information technology departments of a browser developer, a consulting firm, a university, a law publishing firm, and a pharmaceuticals company (in reverse order), among other things. I’ve also been a radio announcer for WRUW-FM 91.1, an amateur actor and theater crewperson, a drummer, and a burger-flipper. I have a deep interest in science history and ethics, I cook, I read, I listen to a wide range of music, and I have a B.A. in History, as well as minors in astronomy, English, and artificial intelligence. My hair is a very faded red, my eyes are blue, and I’m a shade over six feet tall.

What keeps me busy? Quite a lot.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS): Between writing an O’Reilly book on the subject, my articles for Web Review and the O’Reilly Network, the CSS browser support charts I maintain, my work with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), teaching CSS courses for the HTML Writers Guild and others, and general particpation in various CSS forums (including css-discuss), I’ve built up a reputation for knowing a thing or two about CSS.
Speaking: I discovered at some point that I enjoy travelling to other places, getting up in front of groups of people, and talking about subjects I know well. So far, presentations have happened in the United States, Europe, and Australia. Currently seeking opportunities on the other four continents (maybe the South Pole needs a better Web site!) in addition to your city. Interested? E-mail me (see above)!
Writing: This area offers many pieces of my writing, at least those I felt comfortable releasing into the public eye. This includes many professional articles on the topic of CSS (mostly the series "A Sense of Style"), a smattering of commentary pieces, and bits of what I like to think is humorous writing. Your opinion may differ.
Your Father’s Oldsmobile: Every Wednesday morning from 1996 through 2005, I did a two-hour radio show on WRUW-FM 91.1. The show covered music recorded between 1920-1950, roughly speaking, so you could enjoy big band, swing, blues, jazz, and other gems from that period. The page now contains a number of lo-fi archives of shows.