Reading 2

The Web's Grain

“Before I began to practice, mountains were mountains and rivers were rivers.
After I began to practice, mountains were no longer mountains and rivers were no longer rivers.
Now, I have practiced for some time, and mountains are again mountains, and rivers are again rivers.”

Mountains are starting to look like rivers, and rivers are starting to look like mountains.
It has only been approximately 6 months, since I have witnessed the web underneath the screen, however, I am already bewitched by the bicycle-riding bear. Humans are naturally drawn to things that sparkle and shine. And especially for newbies entering a whole new world like me tend to idolize those and become intoxicated by the unknown; we chase those as if it is the ultimate truth. But those dazzles are only a disguise trying to hide and maybe even defy its essence. So what is the web that fascinates, deceives, and disappoints people?

The web is something that constantly changes, but at the same time remains the same. Whether it is tweets or new websites, every second something new is engraved on the web. But at the same time, the web is also a place where the past, when HTML's font tag was supported and people were frantically decorating their blogs, still remains as it was. In that manner, the web is a peculiar place where the past, present, and even the future co-exist. The web, as it was mentioned in Frank Chimero’s The Web’s Grain, the web is edgeless. It does not simply mean the absence of edge that is defined by the screen size of the device, but also the edgelessness in time. Within the web, the past becomes the present and the present becomes the past. We are all connected all over the world and all over time.

If we were to go to, let’s say Moscow, we would have to first ride a taxi to the airport, take a 9 hour flight and finally arrive. But on the web, it would only a few milliseconds for us to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The web is simply fluid, without borders it flows and meets and flows again.

So as can be seen from the nature of the web, I believe we should also be flexible in dealing with the web. As it was said in the reading, the web is not a canvas and CSS is not a stiletto heel to look beautiful at the expense of hurting yourself. I think CSS is more of an iClay, the constantly changes adjusting to the responsive web. So we should never forget what the web is. It is widely said that the real beauty lies within, only by establishing the inner beauty — respecting the essence of the web in its creation — can the webpages on the screen become beautiful.

“Technology only adds more—it is never this or that; it is always this and that”

The web is the web. The web does not change it only adds.
Thus, my mountains are vaguely looking like mountains, and rivers are vaguely looking like rivers again.