Why is webGl slow in my browser? - performance

Most people say webGl is not slow, but it is really slow in my browsers IE 11, and Google Chrome 37.
I have also suddenly that almost all WebGL applications on the Internet does not work in google chrome anymore. I didn't change anything on my computer. I think it's an update or something.
Each time when I visit a webGl application, the site says that webGl is not supported. But when i create a little simple webGl app by myself and visit it with Google Chrome, it starts correctly.
But I've always had that WebGL so slow is that there's nothing you have.
What can I do to fix my Chrome problem? And are there any solutions to increate speed?

It's possible.
it is necessary that WebGL supported sites also support browsers. as you said some sites are not working properly in google chrome and IE it is only because sites doesn't have support for that browser any more, vice versa is also true.
it is undergoing development when they don't support each other, this type of problem arise.

Related

Is Firefox User Agent Switcher enough to test if my site is cross browser?

I found this plugin, for Firefox, on Google and it looks like perfect to test if my site works well on all major browsers. It changes the browser's user-agent and emulates almost all versions of all browsers on any OS, including mobile. Looks like perfect. My question is: can i trust 100% on this plugin? It really give me the same effect as if i were using other browser (ie6 for exemple)?
It really give me the same effect as if i were using other browser (ie6 for exemple)?
No. Changing the user-agent string does not mean you are changing the browser's rendering engine - it just sends a different browser signature to the server. The actual rendering will always be Firefox's, at the sites will always look as they do in Firefox.
See these questions on how to test sites in different browsers:
Browser testing - Ideas on how to tackle it efficiently
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/464089/simulators-emulators-for-mobile-browser-testing
It does not affect the rendering engine of your browser. It only pretends to the server to be a different browser, so if the server has e.g. a special IE6-optimized version it will send you this version instead.
Essentially, this is mostly useful to access web pages that claim to not support your browser by pretending that you have a supported version.
For testing cross-browser compatibility it is useless.
You can get free screenshots from a wide array of browsers at http://browsershots.org/
that is a very useful site, but won't help you test JavaScript interactions.

Is ActiveX considered old/outdated by todays standards?

I have a question about ActiveX. From what I've read and found on the internet, ActiveX is diminishing today and is seen less and less use. My question is, why is that? And what technology is taking over ActiveX?
Thanks
ActiveX only runs in Internet Explorer thus it is not a good platform for applications that want to reach a wide variety of browsers. It is definately on the decline for public facing websites. I'd say it is still somewhat common for Corporate internal apps that need access to API's that normal web technologies simply can not reach.
Now a days, you can acheive much of the same behavior with Html, CSS and Javascript. Especially HTML5.
Also: There are So many browsers out there now. Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, SkyFire, and all the various slimmed-down browsers that are now on mobile devices. You don't stand a chance if your users are using ANY of these browsers if you have an ActiveX Application
Much of what one could do with ActiveX can be done using some AJAX techniques, and what is commonly called HTML5 (you youngsters and your acronyms) where HTML5 = HTML, CSS, Javascript. Search for AJAX and HTML5 and you will come across millions of entries.
As Chris Kooken indicated, ActiveX is limited to IE and Windows platforms, and one has no hope of getting ActiveX to run on any of the current mobile platforms.
Even Microsoft has given up on ActiveX, they came up with Silverlight to replace it. And there are indications that Silverlight is being phased out too, in favor of HTML5.
Here's just one recent article demonstrating Microsoft's leanings: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/11/silverlight-html5-and-microsofts-opaque-development-strategy.ars

Is it possible to support WebGL in "old" browsers via plugin or addon?

Regarding to the immature situation and the somewhat bright feature of WebGL, I decide to use it to build an online application. For those users who have Firefox 4 or Chrome, there is no problem. But what should I do for the users of Firefox 3.* or even IE 6, 7, etc.?
So I'd like to ask that if there is any possible to write a plugin/addon. And when my codes detect the incompatibility, it can alert the user to download/install this extra component to enable them using the WebGL contents.
I noticed that nearly all instructions of WebGL only ask you to install the new, modern browsers to access WebGL contents, but none of them tell you how to handle the old browsers. Will there be a way for the survival of old school browsers?
Thanks very much.
As far as IE goes you should be able to use google chrome frame when webgl hits chrome(you can already hack it to get it working). And since you don't need admin rights to install it anymore it shouldn't be that much of a hurdle. As far as FF3 goes, I don't think that's much
of a long term issue, FF users are sensible and upgrade ;-)
To the best of my knowledge there is no easy answer to this.
If you want to write WebGL code that - without change - will also run on old browsers, then I can only think of Google's O3D project. Here you won't be directly writing WebGL code though. O3D is being implemented on top of WebGL, but its previous implementation was plugin based. So you can write your game or 3D app in O3D and prompt your users with old browser to install the plugin.
A much harder solution that I implement in my project 3DTin, is when WebGL is not available I do some 3D math in software and render it on Canvas 2D. It works if your 3D app is not very complicated. My app runs on all major browsers, including IE 7,8 with the help of excanvas. However this approach is not an option if your 3D scenes are complicated. You may want to look at following 3D javascript libraries that render on top of Canvas 2D:
pre3d
three.js

Will IE9 support WebGL and/or WebSockets? [closed]

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Closed 10 years ago.
Will IE9 support WebGL and/or WebSockets?
Most answers to the question "When will browser X support HTML5 feature Y?" are answered by When Can I Use. In addition to list past, current and future support each item also generally has links to relevant news.
WebSockets
WebGL
Update:
Microsoft has been actively participating in the IETF HyBi working group (WebSockets protocol) and also participating in W3C work on the WebSockets API. The IE 10 preview release has WebSocket support built-in so it looks very likely that we will soon see a official release version of IE with WebSockets.
WebGL in IE still looks pretty uncertain. Microsoft claims fundamental security issues with the design of WebGL, but I suspect it has more to do with the fact that Microsoft has a vested interest in promoting their own DirectX framework rather than OpenGL (which is what WebGL is based on).
As of a few months ago, the IE9 team hadn't made a decision about supporting WebSockets, and they didn't seem to see the point to WebGL.
WebGL seems not to be include in IE's strategy because of DirectX.
Anyway google already worked on that with the ANGLE project.
http://code.google.com/p/angleproject/
The IE team added a WebSocket implementation at HTML5 Labs which is their testing ground for new implementations. Chances are high that WebSockets will make it in IE9
You can look at the current release notes for the platform demo - there is no mention of either WebSockets or WebGL.
There are many discussions of the security issues of WebGL. I first heard of it on one of Steve Gibson's podcasts. Since it gives much lower level access to both the operating system and the hardware any flaw can be exploited much more severely. A quick Google search found this article with descriptions and video of some of the flaws: http://www.contextis.com/research/blog/webgl2/
Microsoft seems quite reluctant to implement WebGL in IE, since OpenGL is a competitor to DirectX. So I think it's unlikely we'll see WebGL in IE in the near future.
I’ve started an Open Source project called JebGL that can serve as a fallback for IE users. It’s a Java applet that when finished will serve as a plugin replacement for a WebGL canvas. It’s still in the early stages of development, but you can check out the demos at http://jebgl.googlecode.com
Right now, the Microsoft IE team is struggling to get HTML 5 and SVG (2D graphics) into Internet Explorer 9. Other web browser makers have been shipping with those standards built in for years.
Apple Safari, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox all run fine on Windows. Takes one mouse click to launch a different browser. Takes a year or two to see what Microsoft might do.
IE progress has consistently been glacially slow this whole decade.
No, IE does not have WebGL support now and betas from other browser makers already run it. IE9 will not catch up with contemporary web standards like WebGL, just ones that have been out for several years or more.
IE9 is not a cross platform web browser either. It will only run on certain specific versions of Microsoft Windows. Just run one of the standard web browsers and you can see what WebGL can do. Their current betas are running some impressive WebGL demos now.
As a fallback until Microsoft adds WebGL support, the Google Chrome Frame beta currently supports WebGL.
RE: WebSockets: No. The target was websocket support in IE10. Tests show that it only has partial support.

What are the major differences between IE7 and IE8 that a web developer should know?

I've just downloaded IE8, which replaced my IE7, but that's okay because IE8 has a 'compatibility view' which is meant to render pages like IE7 (not sure about the JavaScript).
I was wondering if there is a listing on the internet of all major differences a developer should know between the versions. I've searched Google a bit but haven't found a satisfactory listing.
So, what should I (or any other web developer) know about getting my site working optimally on IE8, and what are the major differences between the two?
I would start by looking here:
Internet Explorer 8 Readiness Toolkit
Differences between IE8 Compatibility View and IE7
IE8 Developer Resources
I don't think you'll find a comprehensive "gotcha" list of rendering quirks until more folks have it installed. There are a bunch of new features like Accelerators that you can develop to build new features into IE8. This looks like a good start.

Resources