[whatwg] Why Canvas?

[Křištof Želechovski]

I think it can already be done using DHTML overlays.  Thus no instant
amazing breakthrough is to be expected.
Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: whatwg-bounces at lists.whatwg.org
[mailto:whatwg-bounces at lists.whatwg.org] On Behalf Of WeBMartians
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 1:34 AM
To: whatwg at whatwg.org
Subject: [whatwg] Why Canvas?

With <canvas> a relatively stable (and implemented, actually) tag, this may
be a doubtful question. However, I can't think of any answer, so here
goes...

Why <canvas>?

Why not allow the graphics primitives to operate on any element (not just
<canvas>) that has a height and width that may be expressed in picture
elements... ...even window.screen with its .availHeight, .availWidth,
.height, and .width (yeah, I know, the Screen object is actually a
JavaScript object, not an HTML DOM object)?

The utility is amazing: a tutorial option could then lead a user through a
page or series of pages, circling/outlining an input item ("Fill in this,
first!"), then circling a set of, say, radio buttons ("Now, select one of
these!"), and, finally, circling the Submit button ("Congratulations! You
did it!"). You can see how this would give an instant advantage in
Total-Ownership-Cost to Web Applications.

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B. de Graaf - WeBMartians at Verizon.net