HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 28
Seeking Out What's Next
What's in this chapter?
• Looking at 3-D in the browser with WebGL
• Previewing upcoming APIs
• Looking to the future of native support with WebAPI
Introduction
This topic has covered a lot of ground, but the HTML5 space moves quickly, and a number of cutting-edge spe-
cifications for technologies that are not yet available for general use in mobile browsers are worth considering
because they will expand the type of mobile HTML5 games you can develop. This includes direct access to
hardware-accelerated 3-D in the browser via OpenGL ES, access to better sound support via Web Audio API,
and access to additional native hardware features. This chapter describes these cutting-edge specifications.
Going 3-D with WebGL
One of the biggest drawbacks to canvas-based gaming is that it's stuck in two-dimensional flatland. Sure, you
could build your own 3-D rendering and rasterization engine in JavaScript on top of 2-D canvas, but the perform-
ance would not be suitable.
Luckily there is help coming down the pipeline.
WebGL
, which is a web-based version of OpenGL ES, is
a specification that enables hardware-accelerated 3-D in the browser.
OpenGL ES
, which is short for OpenGL
for Embedded System, is the smaller, more power-consumption-friendly cousin of the desktop OpenGL standard
that has powered various types of 3-D software (including games) for the past two decades.
OpenGL ES has been available via native APIs on iOS and Android and powers the 3-D games you see in the
app stores. Exposing a JavaScript-based API via WebGL means that HTML5 apps can create detailed 3-D scenes
and games in the browser without plug-ins. To access a WebGL canvas in a supported browser, you simply need
to create a standard canvas element and then request a webgl context instead of the standard 2-D context.
NOTE
WebGL is a standard proposed by the Khronos group, and you can find up-to-date details on the Khro-
nos.org website:
www.khronos.org/webgl/
.
