[1] Jeffrey Zeldman briefly worked as a reporter for The Washington Post and ten years as an advertising copywriter before turning to web design in 1995.

[5][1] He rose to prominence as an authority on web design in the second half of the nineties by advocating a middle ground between the aesthetically oriented position of David Siegel and the functionally oriented position of Jakob Nielsen,[6] viewing function and aesthetics as complementary rather than polar opposites.

"[12] Zeldman has maintained his personal website, Zeldman.com, since 1995, initially featuring a blend of web design tips, opinion, and entertainment.

In the early years, the site included a humorous treatise on Lawrence Welk,[13] free icons and backgrounds for visitors to use, and a web design tutorial titled "Ask Dr.

[15] Among his many contributions to A List Apart, his article "To Hell with Bad Browsers,"[16] published in February 2001, has been cited as a turning point in the adoption of Cascading Style Sheets for their intended purpose of articulating layouts.

Speakers, in addition to offering informative content, must have made major contributions to web design or development in order to qualify to speak at the event.