Brad Woods: Browser adaptation

Link: Browser adaptation

Something that I've been thinking about a lot recently is that the medium that is the web. It enables a lot of things that only the web can so this post by Brad Woods really resonated with me and it talks about how the web can be used to adapt stories to different mediums.

Different mediums convey information in unique ways and creators interpret the same story through unique perspectives. Tolkien gives relatively little detail of what Middle-earth looks like, leaving much of the work to the reader's imagination. Jackson on the other hand paints vivid pictures. Tolkien emphasizes the length of the journey by detailing every step, making readers feel the weight of the adventure. Jackson focuses on the major events, creating a fast-paced narrative. Neither approach is superior. Each explores Middle-earth from a different angle. Adaptations allow audiences to make a deeper connection with the story, enriching their understanding and appreciation of the original work.

What the browser offers

The browser offers the following communication tools:

▪text ▪image ▪video ▪sound ▪interactivity ▪video game environments (2D and 3D) With these, we can recreate most story mediums. For example, using image and text to make a comic book or sound to make a podcast. This gives the creator freedom to choose the communication tool(s) that best fit the story they want to tell.

Yes. YES. YES! I love it.

He also discusses the idea of Personalization and Interactivity. Quadruple yes! The web as a medium is so incredibly versatile and I love seeing people explore that.

In 2014 Jeremy Keith published a post "Continuum" and it touches on a different aspect of the value of the web: it's resilence and ability to adapt to the devices it runs on and the browsers it runs in.

I'm still working on how I want to be able to express the value of the web more, especially in a world where it looks like the youth of today who grew up with mediums such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram don't naturally see the web as a medium that they can use to express themselves (or even enjoy).

As a side note, this blog is a gold mine of neat experiments and explainers

I lead the Chrome Developer Relations team at Google.

We want people to have the best experience possible on the web without having to install a native app or produce content in a walled garden.

Our team tries to make it easier for developers to build on the web by supporting every Chrome release, creating great content to support developers on web.dev, contributing to MDN, helping to improve browser compatibility, and some of the best developer tools like Lighthouse, Workbox, Squoosh to name just a few.

I love to learn about what you are building, and how I can help with Chrome or Web development in general, so if you want to chat with me directly, please feel free to book a consultation.

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