HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
The Geolocation API has its own specification at the W3C; it's covered briefly in
chapter
A.3.3. Storage
We mentioned storage in the previous sections. There are two key storage technologies
that aren't part of the HTML5 spec: IndexedDB and the File System API. These are in the
Indexed Database API, File API, File API: Directories and System, and File API: Writer
specs at the W3C.
A.3.4. WebGL
The WebGL technology is based on OpenGL. The Khronos Group has taken OpenGL and
adapted it for use in web browsers; the result is WebGL. All desktop browsers have support
for WebGL. Even Microsoft, after initially being opposed to the technology, has implemen-
ted WebGL in IE11.
A.3.5. Node.js
Many people have mistaken the new software platform Node.js (often simply called
Node
)
for an HTML5 API. Although it makes use of emerging web-standard technologies and im-
proves the use of many HTML5 APIs, it's not part of any web standard. It runs on Google's
V8 JavaScript engine and is primarily sponsored by Joyent. This topic covers basic Node
usage; for more, check out
Node.js in Action
by Mike Cantelon, TJ Holowaychuk, and
Nathan Rajlich (Manning, 2013). Jode.js is also covered in
chapter 4
and
appendix E
.
A.3.6. jQuery and other JavaScript libraries
JavaScript libraries followed along after the last “buzzword fad” on the web: AJAX. The
main problem they initially solved was to provide a compatibility layer over the differing
browser implementations of the XHR object that underlies AJAX, but each also added its
own features. The popular Prototype.js added features and encouraged a style of program-
ming inspired by the Ruby programming language; Dojo did a similar thing except in the
