Skip to Content

Free TUAW iPhone app -- try it now!
AOL Tech

Filed under: Mozilla, Browsers

WebGL support makes first appearance in latest Firefox 3.7 nightly builds


Google Chrome and other WebKit-based browsers aren't the only ones getting improved 3D graphics handling capabilities. As of September 18th, Firefox trunk builds include support for WebGL.

Developer Vladimir Vukićević refers to the project as "essentially a way of accessing OpenGL from within the browser, through the HTML5 canvas tag." Together with the recent leaps in Javascript performance, it's hoped that WebGL can a whole new - pardon the pun - dimension to our experience of 3D graphics on the web.

Progress is coming quickly, but there are still plenty of issues to address before WebGL support is ready for prime time. Vukićević cites security and portability issues with shaders, as well as the problem of what to do on platforms where OpenGL is not available. He also promises some simple demos that will arrive in the near future. If you've seen some already, we'd love to hear about them in the comments! Apart from the Webkit globes, cube, and teapot, that is.

The Minfield (currently Firefox 3.7) builds are available from the Mozilla FTP. To enable WebGL support, head to about:config and change the webgl.enabled_for_all_sites value from false to true (double-clicking the value will change it).

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures
Microsoft Security Essentials
Chromium Pre-Alpha on CrunchBang Linux
Safari 4 Beta
10 Firefox themes that don't suck
IE8 RC1
Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party
Download Squad at the Crunchies
WordPress 2.7
Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals
Windows 7 Hands On
Comodo Internet Security
Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store
Android First-look: Twitroid
Google Reader Android
Android Hands-On
Twine 1.0
Photoshop Express Beta
Mozilla Birthday Cake
Palm stuff
Adobe Lightroom 1.1

 


Follow us on Twitter!

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

More Tech Coverage

AOL Radio

Joystiq

TUAW

Daily Finance

Autoblog

Urlesque

Engadget

WoW

Switched.com

FanHouse