HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
Canvas
Remy Sharp
IF THE VIDEO
element is the poster boy of HTML5, the
canvas element is defi nitely the Han Solo of HTML5. It's
one of the larger parts of the HTML5 specifi cation, and
in fact the canvas API, the 2D drawing context, has been
split into a separate document, though the canvas ele-
ment itself is still part of the official HTML5 spec.
The canvas element provides an API for 2D drawing—
lines, fi lls, images, text, and so on. If you think back to
the days of the version of MS Paint that came with Win-
dows 95, you can imagine some of the functionality. In
fact, Paint has been replicated using the canvas element,
as shown in
Figure 5.1
. Drawing applications that aim to
become fully fl edged vector drawing applications are
starting to pop up all over the web (
Figure 5.2
). As these
applications are based on Open Web technology, they
work in a browser on more devices, too. The Harmony
application shown in
Figure 5.3
even works on mobile
devices, including the iPhone and Android phones.
