Build with Chrome is a modern web experience that uses open web standards like WebGL to deliver a rich, 3D experience across desktop platforms as well as phones and tablets with high enough graphics capabilities. This is one of the first times that we've seen a web experience deliver 3D graphics on phones and tablets, which is thanks to recent support for WebGL on Chrome for Android.

Build with Chrome was originally launched with only desktop platforms in mind (in 2012), but a second version of the site was launched in January 2014 that introduced support for mobile devices (thanks to the recent evolution of mobile browsers) as well as a slew of new features and updates. The site was entirely rebuilt, although all of the previously-created LEGO structures from the first version of the site were preserved.

The Build with Chrome functionality also relied on several Google-specific platform capabilities, namely the Google Maps API and Google+ Sign-in. With the Google Maps API, Build with Chrome presented the entire world as a possible LEGO building plot, mirroring the physical world online. With Google+ Sign-in we were able to customize the users experience so that the Build with Chrome community became more open, social, and useful.

Build with Chrome is one of the first modern web experiences truly designed for tactile input, and the development team worked hard to make it response and app-like. There were also lots of UI challenges in terms of creating LEGO brick-building interaction patterns that made sense on small screens.

Build with Chrome was originally launched in 2012 in Australia-only, with no support for mobile devices. The feature set was limited, and it was intended as an experiment to see what happens when LEGO bricks come to the web.

The response was inspiring. Within a few weeks, we saw over four million visitors come to the site and build (and publish) over 200,000 LEGO structures online. At that point, we knew that Build with Chrome was a concept that resonated with many people, and began thinking about ways that we could evolve and improve the experience.

Fortunately, the web is always evolving and presenting new technological opportunities. Mobile browsers began supporting advanced web standards like WebGL, and we began re-building Build with Chrome for the new multi-screen world that we live in now. Our expectation is that the web will continue evolving (perhaps in ways we cannot predict now), but our hope is that Build with Chrome mirrors these evolutions and continues growing and evolving as a creative platform.