In this 7 minute interview with David Balmer, Mobile HTML5 DeveloperAdvocate we talk about Web Professional Trends for 2014 including the merging of mobile web and the desktop including:
* Benefits of HTML5
* Resources such as HTML5Test.com
* Browser vendors
* Mobile equipment vendors
* Web GL and accelerated 3D inside the browser
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More about WebGL
According to Wikipedia, WebGL (Web Graphics Library) is a JavaScript API for rendering interactive 3D graphics and 2D graphics within any compatible web browser without the use of plug-ins.[2] WebGL is integrated completely into all the web standards of the browser allowing GPU accelerated usage of physics and image processing and effects as part of the web page canvas. WebGL elements can be mixed with other HTML elements and composited with other parts of the page or page background.[3] WebGL programs consist of control code written in JavaScript and shader code that is executed on a computer’s Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). WebGL is designed and maintained by the non-profit Khronos Group.
Design
WebGL is based on OpenGL ES 2.0 and provides an API for 3D graphics.[5] It uses the HTML5 canvas element and is accessed using Document Object Model interfaces. Automatic memory management is provided as part of the JavaScript language.[4]
Like OpenGL ES 2.0, WebGL does not have the fixed-function APIs introduced in OpenGL 1.0 and deprecated in OpenGL 3.0. This functionality can instead be provided by the user in the JavaScript code space..
History
WebGL grew out of the Canvas 3D experiments started by Vladimir Vuki?evi? at Mozilla. Vuki?evi? first demonstrated a Canvas 3D prototype in 2006. By the end of 2007, both Mozilla[6] and Opera[7] had made their own separate implementations.
In early 2009, the non-profit technology consortium Khronos Group started the WebGL Working Group, with initial participation from Apple, Google, Mozilla, Opera, and others.[4][8] Version 1.0 of the WebGL specification was released March 2011.[1] As of March 2012, the chair of the working group is Ken Russell.
Early applications of WebGL include Google Maps and Zygote Body.[9][10] More recently, Autodesk ported most of their applications to the cloud running on local WebGL clients. These applications included Fusion 360 and AutoCAD 360.[11]
Development of the WebGL 2 specification started in 2013.[12] This specification is based on OpenGL ES 3.0.