Source code Virtual Printer:
Lending Form to Language on the Web
Can the manner in which we perceive content on the web be materialized into a tangible form? Is there a way of aestheticizing information on the web? This project became an exercise in lending form to code on the web.
Written in Processing, this script detects key words in source code from a given web-page (the content that is HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript—including but not limited to <br> tags, the initiation of a CSS style, the inclusion of an image or a hyper-link) and responds to the appearance of these words by “printing” a virtual block on the screen. An initiating block is generated first by the script, and each subsequent block only prints adjacent to a preceding block. The parameters for the printed element included the 3-dimensional direction the next block would print (forward, back, up, down, or left and right) according to the appearance of key words or tags.
![Data source http://processing.org/about/index.html [4x speed]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/581b9de346c3c4dd52bd4ddf/1536227178606-7BWBB3UN17AFQAO9IL40/Virtal3dPrinter_Processing.gif)
Data source http://processing.org/about/index.html [4x speed]
![Data source https://www.whitehouse.gov/ [4x speed]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/581b9de346c3c4dd52bd4ddf/1536227368764-Z8UNUAVPDK12AU3CIYJI/Virtal3dPrinter_WhiteHouse3.gif)
Data source https://www.whitehouse.gov/ [4x speed]
![Data source http://www.vox.com/ [4x speed]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/581b9de346c3c4dd52bd4ddf/1536227611892-5F0X6WJ34LKPHJDB6TW6/image-asset.gif)
Data source http://www.vox.com/ [4x speed]
![Data source http://www1.nyc.gov/ [4x speed]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/581b9de346c3c4dd52bd4ddf/1536227295974-POP0TEW32XTQ63B7WOX3/Virtal3dPrinter_NYCgov.gif)
Data source http://www1.nyc.gov/ [4x speed]
![Data source https://vimeo.com/ [4x speed]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/581b9de346c3c4dd52bd4ddf/1536227450655-4CBDOHRYZYU58RI2GZ8G/Virtal3dPrinter_Vimeo.gif)
Data source https://vimeo.com/ [4x speed]
Below are some of the rules I applied in comparing (or we can say 'printing') the coded content of the websites.
While the websites demonstrated here are an initial assortment, and while they do not (and cannot) allude to content and material on the front-end, I wonder if this approach can be applied in other (more lucrative) contexts.
For example, in comparing lifetimes of work in comparative literature or in comparing large amounts of technical information. Perhaps then patterns of words (the string) could begin to indicate a style or a way of thinking through shape and form.