Feasibility of low-level GPU access on the Web
Well, as a small developer I&#x27;d love to see a higher-level, easier-to-use API (than Vulkan) that can be used as a modern, cross platform replacement for OpenGL.  If it could be used both in a browser and standalone even better.  If it was available outside of a browser (even as a Vulkan&#x2F;Metal wrapper), I think it could become a no-brainer replacement for where OpenGL ES is used today.<p>I understand that engine developers can get some (small?) percent improvement from an ultra-low-level API that exposes more platform specific details.  But they almost always support multiple APIs natively, and already use the low level ones where available.  There may be a small performance benefit (over a higher level API) in the browser, but I don&#x27;t think the browser is a likely target for ultra heavyweight apps &#x2F; games, that usually are multi-GB downloads anyway, in the near future.  And keep in mind that if smaller software sticks with WebGL because of API complexity, that might be a big performance loss for the user.<p>But a higher level API would have great benefits everywhere!  Right now the only real cross-platform graphics API is OpenGL ES 3.0, which is becoming more and more obsolete, with little sign of the situation changing.  No compute shaders, no AZDO, etc.  Any move beyond that feature set now requires multiple APIs, shaders etc.  And the easiest way for a small developer to get those features is still to skip Vulkan and to stick with GL ES 3.1+ on Win&#x2F;Linux&#x2F;Android and choose Metal on Mac&#x2F;iOS.  Of course on the web for those features there are no options at all.<p>I think if a new API was available that was easy to use and truly cross platform (including web), it would be the obvious first API to implement for all new graphics software.  And this would be a much larger benefit than an unknown performance improvement that is accessible mostly to engine developers.