Why WebGL will change the landscape of the Internet

Anyone who knows me can probably vouch for the fact that I am a bit of a Google Chrome nut.  It’s basically my browser of choice these days because it is so fast, clean and user friendly.  Since Google introduced extensions and themes to the browser the landscape has really changed quite dramatically.  The Google Chrome experience can be personalised and set to work in so many ways.  Extensions (or plug-ins) were one of the things that many people were crying out for when Chrome was first released. 

More recently Google has introduced Apps via the Chrome Web Store making it easy for you to find interesting apps (web applications), extensions and themes.  It’s basically a one stop shop for finding games, utilities and productivity applications for your Chrome browser.  If you’re currently running Google Chrome, why not stop by and check it out.

Something new is on the horizon though.  You may have already heard of HTML 5.0 which is already starting to gain widespread acceptance among web developers.  HTML 5.0 on it’s own will change the way we view the web with very cool features such as <canvas>, better video and audio support, application caching, geolocation and much more.  Additionally, HTML 5.0 will also make waves on the mobile web as many phone web browsers already to some degree support HTML 5.0.  However, as well as these new markup standards, there’s a great new (actually, it’s quite old really) technology that could very well change the face of the web - literally.

I am of course  talking about WebGL.  Whilst this isn’t actually specifically a Google technology, they are helping the technology gain widespread acceptance with an early implementation on their Chrome Browser (Canary build at the moment).

WebGL is based on OpenGL, a technology that has been around for quite a while now.  OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is basically a  standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics.  In a nutshell, cool 3D graphics such as in computer games and simulations.

WebGL (and of course HTML 5.0) is exciting news for web developers because it makes it possible to build the kind of websites and user interfaces that have, up until now either been impossible or required extensive plug-ins and third party tools.  Just imagine exploring the Internet through a 3D world instead of a boring 2D flat page.   Imagine the possibilities for online gaming without the need  to install a separate software client.

Current WebGL browser support

At the time of writing WebGL is currently supported on Chrome, Firefox and Safari and I haven’t found any news of WebGL for Internet Explorer 9.0, but I think that Microsoft would be very foolish indeed to ignore it.  The Khronos website is an excellent resource and worth a visit if you’re thinking of taking a look at WebGL.

Personally, I’d recommend just grabbing the Canary build of Chrome as it will sit quite happily with your existing browser and will give you the opportunity to try out all the latest goodies including WebGL.

Once you’re all set up with your WebGL capable browser I suggest you take a look at some of the following demos to get a glimpse of what the future could be like online.

Google Body Browser - A simply awesome and informative example.

WebGL Aquarium - a very impressive looking fish tank... in a web browser!

Image search wall of photos - Image search with a 3D look and feel.

For more WebGL demos please visit the WebGL Experiments page.

If you're a web developer who is interested in learning WebGL and exploring the possibilities then learningwebgl.com is an excellent resource to get you started.  Go forth and create because with WebGL  the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

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