Meet Håkon Wium Lie: Innovator Behind CSS and Opera Software

Håkon Wium Lie is a Norwegian computer scientist and innovator who has made significant contributions to the world of technology. He is best known for inventing the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) technology.

Wium Lie's work on CSS revolutionized the way web pages are designed and presented. He proposed the idea of separating presentation from content, making it easier for web developers to create visually appealing and user-friendly websites.

Wium Lie is also the co-founder of Opera Software, a company that developed the popular Opera web browser.

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Håkon Wium Lie was born in Norway in 1965, and grew up with a passion for technology and innovation.

He received his Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Oslo in 1993, which laid the foundation for his future career.

Growing up in Norway, Lie was surrounded by the country's strong focus on technology and innovation, which likely influenced his early interests.

He began his career in the 1990s, working as a researcher at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, where he was part of a team that developed the first web browser with support for stylesheets.

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Håkon Wium Lie's educational background is quite impressive. He attended Østfold University College, West Georgia College, and MIT Media Lab, where he received an MS in Visual Studies in 1991. His academic journey didn't stop there.

He successfully defended his PhD thesis at the University of Oslo on February 17, 2006. His dissertation provided valuable insights into the origins of CSS and the design decisions behind it.

Here are some of the notable institutions he's worked for:

The early years of this individual's career are marked by a series of educational and research experiences that laid the foundation for their future work.

They attended Østfold College from 84-86, where they likely developed a strong foundation in their chosen field.

Next, they headed to West Georgia College, earning a B.Sc in Computer Science from 86-87.

One notable aspect of their time at West Georgia College is that it's been written about by Newt Gingrich.

From 87-88, they worked on the OECD Halden Reactor Project, where they may have gained hands-on experience in a research setting.

Their time at Norwegian Telecom Research from 88-89 was an important step in their career, likely providing them with valuable experience in the telecommunications industry.

During their stint at MIT Media Lab from 89-91, they earned an M.S. in Visual Studies, with a thesis titled "The Electronic Broadsheet -- all the news that fits the display".

Here's a quick rundown of their educational and research experiences:

Håkon Wium Lie is a highly accomplished individual with numerous professional achievements to his name.

He was named to the MIT Technology Review TR100 as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35 in 1999.

In 2001, Lie was a Technology Pioneer at the World Economic Forum in Davos, a prestigious recognition of his work.

His work on CSS has had a lasting impact, and he has been recognized as a pioneer in the field.

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Lie and Bert Bos wrote a book on CSS, which has been updated to its third edition, demonstrating their ongoing commitment to the subject.

Here are some of his notable publications on CSS:

Wium Lie joined Opera Software in April 1999 as CTO, motivated by the company's progress in implementing CSS in just three months, far surpassing what Netscape and Microsoft had achieved in three years.

He spearheaded the development of mobile browsers, focusing on small-screen rendering of web pages, which enabled Opera to display normal web pages on feature phones running the Opera Mini browser.

Wium Lie was a key spokesperson for Opera when the company filed a complaint against Microsoft in the EU over Internet Explorer in 2007, stressing the need for Microsoft to fully support web standards in their browser.

This led to a settlement where Microsoft started offering rival browsers from a browser choice screen to Windows users in Europe, which Wium Lie declared a victory for the web.

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In 2013, Opera transitioned from its own Presto web engine to the WebKit engine, used by Safari and Google Chrome, citing the benefits of working with open-source communities.

Wium Lie was also involved in a high-profile case in 2018, where he was sued by Lovdata for publishing Norwegian court decisions on rettspraksis.no, a volunteer web site, and was eventually sentenced to pay the legal bills of Lovdata.

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Håkon Wium Lie has received numerous awards and recognition for his contributions to the web. He was named to the MIT Technology Review TR100 in 1999 as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35.

His innovative spirit has been acknowledged by the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he was a Technology Pioneer in 2001.

Lie has also shared his knowledge and expertise through a book on CSS, which has been published in three editions. The books, written by Lie and Bert Bos, are considered essential reading for web designers and developers.

Here are the book editions:

Codemotion! It's a conference where the Spanish dev community got to meet and listen to Håkon Wium Lie, a key figure in web development, in 2023. He was a keynote speaker at Codemotion Madrid.

Håkon Wium Lie played a key role in developing CSS into a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Recommendation, standardizing it for use across the web. He also proposed the Acid2 test, a test page for web browsers published by the Web Standards Project in 2005.

Don't miss the opportunity to meet and listen to one of the greatest names in the history of web development, as he will also be a keynote speaker at Codemotion Milan on October 24-25.