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Watch: A New Documentary About Jeffrey Zeldman

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You keep it by giving it away.

Jeffrey Zeldman

It’s a philosophy that’s always guided us at Web Dev Notes: that we all learn more—and are more successful—when we share what we know with anyone who wants to listen. And it comes straight from our publisher, Jeffrey Zeldman.

For 20 years, he’s been sharing everything he can with us, the people who make websites—from advice on table layouts in the ’90s to Designing With Web Standards in the 2000s to educating the next generation of designers today.

Our friends at Lynda.com just released a documentary highlighting Jeffrey’s two decades of designing, organizing, and most of all sharing on the web. You should watch it.

Jeffrey Zeldman: 20 years of Web Design and Community from lynda.com.

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11 Reader Comments

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    A great documentary about a humble, smart and visionary man, whom I have had the pleasure to meet twice.

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    When this video popped up on my various feeds, I resisted watching since it’s on Vimeo, which has NO support for captioning. But since I still wanted to watch it, I’ve discovered that the original video on Lynda.com has a transcript, for those who need it.

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    As well as being a humble visionary, Jeffrey is one of the most socially switched-on humans I’ve listened to. I think we’re all pretty lucky to have his thoughtfulness help shape the medium.

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    What a fantastic bloke. For someone who has achieved so much, he shows great humility and is a great champion of those making their way in the business…

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    Great video.
    Zeldman inspired me to teach and spread the word about web development with good practices. Keep on with good work.

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    Great video

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    Excellent video, and what an inspiration. There was however, a noticeable omission. Not a single reference to Eric Meyer, whom I had assumed was a strong partner in many of Zeldman’s initiatives.

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    Wonderful stuff. Mr. Zeldman’s efforts have contributed greatly to my personal knowledgebase over the years.

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    @Kevin Roth: During the filming, Eric Meyer was out of pocket, coping with a family illness. Otherwise he would have appeared in the film. Eric is my co-founding partner in An Event Apart. My comments about Eric’s work did not make it into the final film.

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    Good to see a documentary about the web design community. Are there any others out there?

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    I finally got round to watching this after adding it to my reading list last year. A really thought-provoking and genuinely insightful film. My wish is that one day I will deliver something to the web community that si worthy of a list apart – I keep working regardless.

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