WebGL

The new HTML5 standard includes a feature called canvas useful for programmatically drawing graphics. It comes in two flavours 2D and 3D. The 2D canvas is actually part of the HTML5 standard while the 3D version is standardized externally of the W3C under the name WebGL™ by Khronos. For the user this does not make much difference since all major browsers now support WebGL™.

WebGL™ allows javaScript programs to directly access the client computers GPU. It can so be used for very complex and fast animations. On the other hand and because of that same reason it does not run on client computers that lack a suitable GPU and it is much more difficult to be used than canvas 2D.

Although a computers GPU is espically useful for 3D graphics, it is in fact used for 2D graphics as well and this is the same with WebGL™.

WebGL™ is a trademark of the Khronos Group Inc.