3D My Web

On the surface, this might not seem like a big deal. But hardware accelerated CSS transformations are actually really big news. And this isn't a specialist vendor technology that's going to be marginally successful.

Yeah, yeah. 'So what' right? Facebook will look a little k3w1'r and there's going to be a new wave of websites with pretty interfaces?

Nope. This is actually a revolutionary step through Alice's looking glass. This simple little piece of functionality crosses the boundaries between what a traditional application can do, and what a web application can do. Currently all of the graphics in web applications is mock-up stuff. A little animated GIF for progress, a set of filling boxes for loading, a splash of flash. Take your average corporate website, go ahead and remove all functional limitations... a page on which just about anything is possible. And an operating environment that is truly ubiquitous suddenly, every computer has the same features because every browser supports the standard.

Since computer inception, everyone has struggled with what a computer is, does and how they should work. The first mainframes used dumb terminals, desktop systems rapidly replaced these and now we're (slowly) moving toward to a more functionally derived re-definition of the division between client and server. The era of the small office application server is slowly disappearing into the nether regions of computing history because any browser, anywhere will soon be able to perform any function from any server using even the laziest connectivity. But this new computer isn't dumb, it's still a fully functional computer... but the functionality of the application is declared by the 'developer' rather than the instructions written by a developer.

Confused?

Database systems used to be sequentially based. Software would instruct the computer to 'open file' then 'read first record', 'second record'.... 'close file'. SQL changed this, you just say 'database, get the data for client ABC123' and the database handles the heavy lifting as best it can. 3D graphics are currently sitting at the sequential phase (for lack of a better term). The hardware has to be told how to do everything. CSS 3D hardware accelerated integration is changing that. People will soon be able to declare what they want done, rather than how to do it. Commands like 'spin' or 'flip' or 'run' could be combined with animated vehicles or people.

An over-simplification?

But that's the point. Can you really over simplify 3d graphics? Let's hope not. Right now there's way too much script with way too many holes, clashes, possibilities and cost. Bring on the web as it should be, I'm excited!