Learn WEBGL with Real Code Examples

No installation needed – built into browsers

Request WebGL context from <canvas>

Check for context availability

Load shaders and GPU buffers

Start render loop via requestAnimationFrame

Modern browser (Chrome/Firefox/Edge)

Enable WebGL in settings if disabled

Use local server for assets

Optional: shader language tools

Optional: Three.js/Babylon.js setup

index.html - Canvas

main.js - WebGL code

vertex.glsl - Vertex shader

fragment.glsl - Fragment shader

config.json - rendering settings

No CLI needed - browser API

Use vite/parcel for bundling

Use glslify for shader tooling

Use webpack GLSL loaders

Use http-server for local hosting

Handled by JavaScript layer

WebGL itself is language-agnostic

Shaders use ASCII GLSL

UI layers must provide i18n

GLTF models may embed localized metadata

WebGL canvas is not inherently accessible

Needs fallback UI for screen readers

Keyboard navigation must be custom

DOM overlays recommended

Great for visualization, not UI components

Rendering entirely in GPU canvas

No CSS for 3D objects

UI overlays via DOM if needed

Custom shaders define visual style

Post-processing for advanced visuals

Uniforms for global shader state

Attributes for per-vertex data

VAOs for state bundling

Textures as GPU state objects

Application logic in JavaScript

Geometry stored in VBOs

Textures via gl.texImage2D

Matrices/transform data sent as uniforms

Framebuffer data for image processing

Model/asset loading via JSON/GLTF