I have finished my HTML5 refresher reading. I did skim past some sections, but I expected I’d do that…if those areas become important as tome point I’ll dig in deeper.

I found the canvas section very interesting. It looks very much like the postscript level 2 rendering model/API that I read through (and used here and there) in college but with a JavaScript spin. I can see using 2D canvas in cases where the need for complex rendering is less. It certainly provides many more opportunities for presenting customized views than baseline HTML 4.01 ever did (at least without flash or silverlight).

I was going to run through CSS, JavaScript, JQuery and PHP before moving on to the fun bits like WebGL. After spending a week of evenings reading through familiar HTML territory with a bunch of important but not very exciting new bits I decided to go for some fun part now.

I have a copy of Programming 3D Applications with HTML5 and WebGL: 3D Animation and Visualization for Web Pages which looks pretty good. I am very excited about seeing what level of functionality can be implemented entirely in the browser. I don’t expect anything like full OpenGL (non ES) capability, but the fact that programmable shaders are supported (in fact required) is promising. My OpenGL ES book is still pending delivery (bought used, taking some time).

As I read through this, I’ll post any interesting thoughts along the way.