Meet the Web Platform Companion Guide

Last updated 3/13/12

The web platform is composed of a large collection of interoperable standards that represent a solid foundation for building powerful apps. New standards are born on the cutting edge, where various organizations experiment with new capabilities. Those capabilities that capture the imagination of the broader community may eventually become a formal part of the web platform. The demos in the Meet the Web Platform videos show a few examples of some of the cool stuff you can do on the cutting edge of the web platform. Not all of these capabilities have been standardized yet, some only work in Chrome today, and some are still actively being implemented in Chrome. This guide serves as a companion to the videos, providing more context on each demo and the technology that powers them.

Building on Foundations

Web Components

• Implementation status: Shadow DOM, a core foundational piece of Web Components, is available in Chrome 19+ behind the Shadow DOM flag. Other bits will be implemented in the near future.
• Cross-browser support: Active interest demonstrated by Microsoft and Mozilla
• Standardization status: All specifications under Web Components umbrella are being developed in the W3C WebApps Working Group
• Learn more:
  • A comprehensive introduction to Web components
  • A readable introduction to Shadow DOM
  • Follow the Web Components Google+ page to stay up to date
  • W3C Editor’s Draft of the Shadow DOM specification

Blocks are easy to style, and everything is a block

• Implementation status: -webkit-filter is enabled in Chrome 19+. 3D CSS transformations has been enabled since M16. Video has been available for many releases.
• Cross-browser support: filter is not implemented in other browsers yet, but should be soon. 3D transformations are supported in most other browsers. Video support is available in all modern browsers
• Standardization status: All features are standardized or being standardized
• Learn more:
  • CSS Filters specification
  • HTML5 video
  • 3D transformations
  • BeerCamp example

Improved layout primitives

• Implementation status: The older version of the spec is supported, and the improved flexbox spec is being actively implemented in Chrome with basic support in Chrome 19.
• Cross-browser support: Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Internet Explorer 10 implement the old flexbox spec; updated spec should be implemented soon in Chrome and other browsers.
• Standardization status: Fully standardized
• Learn more:
  • The improved Flexbox specification
  • Grid layout specification (another app layout CSS module that is being actively standardized)

Debugging on mobile

• Implementation status: Works in Chrome 18+
• Cross-browser support: N/A
• Standardization status: N/A
• Learn more:
  • Guide to debugging Chrome for Android Beta

World Class Developer Tools

• Implementation status: Fully implemented
• Cross-browser support: Other browsers have strong tools as well
• Standardization status: N/A
• Learn more:
  • Overview of dev tools

Powerful Text Layout

• Implementation status: A side build of WebKit from Adobe demonstrates CSS exclusions and regions. Work to land that functionality in WebKit is ongoing, but doesn't yet work in Chrome.
• Cross-browser support: No shipping browser supports it yet
• Standardization status: Actively undergoing standardization at W3C
• Learn more:
  • Play around with Adobe's WebKit build and examples
  • CSS Exclusions specification
  • CSS Regions specification (related to Exclusions but not featured in the video)

Learning from Other Platforms

Push notifications

• Implementation status: push notifications for apps on the New Tab Page implemented but not yet available to developers. Notification center work underway.
• Cross-browser support: Not yet, as this is part of the Chrome extension APIs
• Standardization status: Not standardized

Payments

• Implementation status: Fully implemented
• Cross-browser support: All modern browsers can use the payments API
• Standardization status: Not standardized
• Learn more:
  • Payments API reference
  • Bastion

Web Intents

• Implementation status: Initial functionality available in Chrome 19 for Chrome Web Store apps.
• Cross-browser support: No other browsers have implemented web intents yet.
• Standardization status: Being standardized publicly at the W3C
• Learn more:
  • WebIntents.org overview
  • Web Intents Draft API
  • Web Intents Task Force mailing list at the W3C
  • Imagemator
  • CloudFilePicker app for getting to your Picasa images
  • MemeMator app to edit a photo

On the Cutting Edge

WebCam

• Implementation status: implemented in Chrome 18+, requires enabling "Enable MediaStream" in about:flags. Note: as of this writing there are no security checks in place for access to webcam yet; do not browse untrusted sites with that flag enabled. Security UI will be landing in Chrome 19 for all platforms.
• Cross-browser support: Implemented in Opera and being implemented in Firefox
• Standardization status: Actively being standardized
• Learn more:
  • CAPTURING AUDIO & VIDEO IN HTML5 at HTML5Rocks
  • Minimal code example
  • Neave HTML5 Photobooth App
  • DMV photobooth app

Web Audio

• Implementation status: Available in Chrome since version 14
• Cross-browser support: No other browsers yet, although Firefox has a separate audio API
• Standardization status: Being standardized at the W3C
• Learn more:
  • Web Audio specification
  • Introductory tutorial to the Web Audio API at HTML5Rocks
  • Collection of Web Audio articles at HTML5Rocks
  • Plink collaborative music-making app

WebGL

• Implementation status: fully implemented in all recent versions of Chrome
• Cross-browser support: support in nearly all desktop browsers except for IE; Safari requires opt-in. Beginning to see support on mobile devices (Sony Experia, Opera Mobile)
• Standardization status: standardized at the Khronos group
• Learn more:
  • WebGL tutorial at HTML5Rocks
  • WebGL water example scene
  • WebGL wiki

NaCl and GamePad

• Implementation status: NaCl available for web store apps in Chrome 14+. GamePad API is in M19+ behind the "Enable Gamepad" flag in about:flags.
• Cross-browser support: NaCl only works in Chrome. GamePad is not implemented in other browsers (but will be soon).
• Standardization status: NaCl is not standardized, but GamePad is being actively standardized.
• Learn more:
  • AirMech (without GamePad support for the time being)
  • Learn more about the GamePad API (spec)
  • Learn more about Native Client