[whatwg] Canvas and DOM elements

[Ian Hickson]

On Thu, 4 May 2006, Andrew Fedoniouk wrote:
> 
> Having dedicated DOM element (<canvas>) for drawings looks a bit strange 
> as a design decision. Logically any block DOM element can provide 
> graphics. Ideally getContext method should have one more parameter - 
> layer - background/content/foreground - so graphics could be mixed with 
> the content of the element, drawn on top and/or below the content.

In practice, major browser vendors have difficulty writing Web browsers 
that handle generic concepts like this. <object>, for example, which is a 
very generic feature, has been historically very badly implemented. So it 
was felt better to make things more specific to one element.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
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Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'