{"id":42,"date":"2024-08-12T17:32:25","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T17:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thehistoryoftheweb.com\/dialogues\/?p=42"},"modified":"2024-08-13T18:45:34","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T18:45:34","slug":"what-was-the-moment-the-web-clicked-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehistoryoftheweb.com\/dialogues\/what-was-the-moment-the-web-clicked-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"What was the moment the web clicked for you?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\t\n\t

\n\t\tI've researched enough people's experience with the web to know that most people who care deeply about it had a single moment that really defined when the web felt magical to them, and they decided to commit their lives to it. What was yours?\t<\/h3>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

I had to think about this a bit because the web is so pervasive in my life \u2014 and has been for so long \u2014 that singling out the exact moment I decided to adopt it is buried under many other moments not totally unlike walking the halls of Long Term Memory<\/a> in the movie Inside Out<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Still
Source: Inside Out Wiki<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And the more I think of it, deciding to adopt the web probably came down to many little moments that accumulated over time. For example, I was really into paint applications as a kid which is fairly common for anyone who came of age in the 90s. I loved that I could transform the computer’s cursor from a pointer to a paintbrush I could use to slap all kinds of colors (well, gray shades) and shapes on the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Source: Uncredited, retrieved from DuckDuckGo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mac Paint is not the web, of course. The magic was that I could manipulate the window in front of me. The web’s magic came to me when I found myself moving from one virtual place to another virtual place in the same window<\/em>. I wasn’t drawing the canvas, but the canvas was drawn and then redrawn each time I navigated to another “page” vastly different from the previous one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess you can say the web “clicked” for me when I started clicking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The magic was the click, but the mystery of what comes after the click is the hook. Surfing from one page to another was strangely familiar because it felt like wandering through a really big and old mansion for the first time. I wonder where this door leads…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

I’ve had countless “a-ha!” moments with the web since my first hike through it, most related directly to the web itself and how it works. That’s probably why I’m a web designer today. Learning to add style to webpages by writing CSS is my ultimate web “a-ha!” moment<\/a> and the interest it sparked has lasted more than 20 years and continues to burn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s just me. One of the many interesting things about the web is that it’s truly a one-size-fits-all cloth that makes it relevant, applicable, and useful for practically anyone and everyone. What’s magic to me may pale in comparison to what you first found magical about it. Which begs the question…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t

Next Question:<\/h4>\n\t

What, then, was the moment the web clicked for you?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think I can single out an exact moment when the web clicked. And maybe unsurprisingly, it began with a click.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"description":"I've researched enough people's experience with the web to know that most people who care deeply about it had a single moment that really defined when the web felt magical to them, and they decided to commit their lives to it. What was yours?","next_question":51,"previous_question":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat was the moment the web clicked for you? - Dialogues<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I think I can single out an exact moment when the web clicked. 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