We’re excited that other browsers have started to use hardware to accelerate graphics performance. With different implementations starting to become available, now’s a good time to blog about the difference between full and partial hardware acceleration.
In November 2009, developers had their first look at hardware accelerated graphics in a browser at the PDC. In March 2010, we released the first IE9 Platform Preview with “GPU-powered HTML5” turned on by default. In that release, hardware acceleration applied to everything on every Web page—text, images, backgrounds, borders, SVG content, HTML5 video and audio—using the Windows DirectX graphics APIs. With Platform Preview 3 in July, IE9 introduced a hardware-accelerated HTML5 canvas.
Understanding Hardware Acceleration
Browsers can use hardware to accelerate none, some, or all of the steps in rendering an HTML pages. The diagram below illustrates the major steps in HTML page rendering in IE9.
In November 2009, developers had their first look at hardware accelerated graphics in a browser at the PDC. In March 2010, we released the first IE9 Platform Preview with “GPU-powered HTML5” turned on by default. In that release, hardware acceleration applied to everything on every Web page—text, images, backgrounds, borders, SVG content, HTML5 video and audio—using the Windows DirectX graphics APIs. With Platform Preview 3 in July, IE9 introduced a hardware-accelerated HTML5 canvas.
Understanding Hardware Acceleration
Browsers can use hardware to accelerate none, some, or all of the steps in rendering an HTML pages. The diagram below illustrates the major steps in HTML page rendering in IE9.
