September 22, 2009, 6:09 am
The latest Firefox nightly builds now include Mozilla’s implementation of WebGL, an emerging standard that aims to bring 3D graphics to the Web. Although the standard is still at a relatively early stage in the draft process, it is rapidly gaining momentum and has strong backing from a growing number of browser vendors. It’s yet another sign that standards adoption is accelerating as the need to bring richer content to the Web drives forward browser evolution.
The WebGL working group was formed earlier this year when Mozilla teamed up with the Khronos Group, the organization behind the OpenGL standard, to define an open standard for native browser 3D. The goal is to develop low-level JavaScript APIs that will provide comprehensive support for OpenGL ES 2.0. High-level third-party libraries, such as C3DL, will be built on top to give Web application developers a more expressive and convenient way to leverage WebGL’s 3D capabilities. Mozilla believes that the flexibility inherent in this layered approach will be advantageous in the long term and that the trend towards faster JavaScript engines will make it practical for real-world usage.
