HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
THE
TROUBLE
WITH
3D CSS
AND
HTML
All in all, the 3D transforms are great fun and provide you with some inter-
esting possibilities for more dynamic, responsive user interfaces. But they are
not perfect by any means and need to be used sparingly and subtly.
The kinds of effects involving transforms, animations, and transitions that
I present in this chapter will not change the entire web paradigm, but
these kinds of effects are what work while still remaining inside the realms
of accessibility, usability, and good taste. Many of the more flashy 3D CSS
demos I've seen are fun demos but would probably not fly in the real world.
The trouble is that HTML and CSS form an inherently flat, 2D delivery mecha-
nism. You can imply some depth and perspective, sure, but there is no way
you can build an immersive, real, 3D world with such technologies. In addi-
tion, HTML elements have no inherent depth; the transforms and transitions
required would be very processor-intensive, and HTML really isn't the right
technology to choose.
For a proper 3D environment, you would be much better served with HTML5
<canvas>
/WebGL, which is beyond the scope of this topic. And of course, such
technologies have issues of their own. Text inside
<canvas>
is just drawn
onto an image, so is inaccessible.
A combination of all these technologies is needed for more ambitious 3D
work, methinks.
