HTML Canvas Made Simple: A Guide for Beginners.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Getting Started
- Drawing basics
- Adding Text
- Conclusion and Next Steps
? Introduction
HTML
The use of
Use Cases of HTML
- Drawing shapes and lines: It can draw shapes, patterns and lines including adding of colors and gradients to the objects.
- Animation and interaction: The objects created by
can be animated and also user interactions - Images Manipulation: This can used to resizing or cropping images.
- Game graphics: It is also used by game developer to create beautiful game user interfaces
- Data visualization: It is for the creation of graphs and charts.
?Get Started
The HTML
First we have to create an index.html file and include the
<!doctype html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8" /> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" /> <title>HTML Canvas Example</title> </head> <body> <canvas> <p>Then we add a script tag so we can define the behavior of the object.<br> </p> <pre class="brush:php;toolbar:false"><!doctype html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8" /> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" /> <title>HTML Canvas Example</title> </head> <body> <canvas> <p>Wowu !!! We get the output.</p> <p><img src="/static/imghw/default1.png" data-src="https://img.php.cn/upload/article/000/000/000/173467309470040.jpg" class="lazy" alt="HTML Canvas Made Simple: A Guide for Beginners."></p> <p>Looking at the structure of the code. We define canvas wrapper having an id attribute, this is can only be done by id and not class because of uniqueness which is used to reference the canvas with the id name.<br> To access this we need to retrieve the node created in the Document Object Model(DOM) by using the getElementById("myCanvas") and have access to it using the getContext("2d") method.</p> <p>This method make us to have access to different drawing methods like</p>
- fillRect(x, y, width, height): This method is to draw a filled rectangle at a position(x, y) with a specified width and height.
- fillStyle = colorName: It is a property to set the color for the object. It could be a colorname, RGB or hex code for the object.
Other methods are:
- strokeRect(x, y, width, height): This method to to make a outline stroke on the rectangle, this may be used independently or combined with fillStyle and fillRect(x, y, width, height).
- clearRect(x, y, width, height): to clear the rectangle by making it transparent.
? Drawing basics
Different shapes and lines can be drawn using some specific methods depending on the object.
1. Path:
Examples are line, wavy line, zigzag e.t.c
For creating a line, the following method needs to be set up:
- beginPath(): This method is to start a new path for a drawing.
- moveTo(x, y): This is to move the drawing to the specified points.
- lineTo(x, y): This is to draw from the current position to the specified points.
- stroke(): This is to draw the line.
2. Rectangle and Square
- Rectangle
- Square
These following methods are used in creating a rectangle or square:
- fillRect: this method is for create rectangle and square only.
- clearRect(x, y, width, height): this method is to clear rectangle hence making it transparent.
- strokeRect(x, y, width, height): is used to create an outline rectangle or square.
- fillStyle: this is used to fill the container of the rectangle or square.
- strokeStyle: this method is for add stroke color to an outline rectangle.
- roundRect(x, y, width, height, radii): this method is for creating round border rectangle.
3. Circle
These following methods are used in creating a circle:
- beginPath(): this method to begin a path.
- arc(x, y, radius, startAngle, endAngle, anticlockwise): this is for to create circle where x and y is for center coordinate of the center, radius is the radius of the circle, startAngle and endAngle which is an angle for the circle.
4. Polygon
To create a polygon, you need to determine the sides of the shape, it could be a triangle(3 sides), pentagon (5 sides), hexagon(6 sides) or decagon (10 sides).
These following methods are used in creating a circle:
- beginPath(): this method is to create a new shape.
- closePath(): this method is to end the shape.
- cx: its value for the center of x co-ordinates.
- cy: its value specifies the center for y co-ordinates.
- radius: radius of the shape.
To get the angle, you have to calculate with this formula by dividing the circle into two;
angle = 2π/ n
where π is 3.14; n is the number of sides. You also have to minus π/2 to get the position of the shape top to bottom.
? Text with
To create text, the following methods are used:
- font: to specify font size and font family.
- fillStyle: this is to add color to the text.
- fillText: this draws a filled text.
- strokeText: this draws an outline text
- createLinearGradient or createRadialGradient: to add gradients to the text
- textAlign: to set the text horizontally
Conclusion
Using HTML
Connect with me
For more articles on web development. Follow me on Linkedin and X
Linkedin X
The above is the detailed content of HTML Canvas Made Simple: A Guide for Beginners.. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

Hot AI Tools

Undresser.AI Undress
AI-powered app for creating realistic nude photos

AI Clothes Remover
Online AI tool for removing clothes from photos.

Undress AI Tool
Undress images for free

Clothoff.io
AI clothes remover

Video Face Swap
Swap faces in any video effortlessly with our completely free AI face swap tool!

Hot Article

Hot Tools

Notepad++7.3.1
Easy-to-use and free code editor

SublimeText3 Chinese version
Chinese version, very easy to use

Zend Studio 13.0.1
Powerful PHP integrated development environment

Dreamweaver CS6
Visual web development tools

SublimeText3 Mac version
God-level code editing software (SublimeText3)

Hot Topics











Python is more suitable for beginners, with a smooth learning curve and concise syntax; JavaScript is suitable for front-end development, with a steep learning curve and flexible syntax. 1. Python syntax is intuitive and suitable for data science and back-end development. 2. JavaScript is flexible and widely used in front-end and server-side programming.

The shift from C/C to JavaScript requires adapting to dynamic typing, garbage collection and asynchronous programming. 1) C/C is a statically typed language that requires manual memory management, while JavaScript is dynamically typed and garbage collection is automatically processed. 2) C/C needs to be compiled into machine code, while JavaScript is an interpreted language. 3) JavaScript introduces concepts such as closures, prototype chains and Promise, which enhances flexibility and asynchronous programming capabilities.

The main uses of JavaScript in web development include client interaction, form verification and asynchronous communication. 1) Dynamic content update and user interaction through DOM operations; 2) Client verification is carried out before the user submits data to improve the user experience; 3) Refreshless communication with the server is achieved through AJAX technology.

JavaScript's application in the real world includes front-end and back-end development. 1) Display front-end applications by building a TODO list application, involving DOM operations and event processing. 2) Build RESTfulAPI through Node.js and Express to demonstrate back-end applications.

Understanding how JavaScript engine works internally is important to developers because it helps write more efficient code and understand performance bottlenecks and optimization strategies. 1) The engine's workflow includes three stages: parsing, compiling and execution; 2) During the execution process, the engine will perform dynamic optimization, such as inline cache and hidden classes; 3) Best practices include avoiding global variables, optimizing loops, using const and lets, and avoiding excessive use of closures.

Python and JavaScript have their own advantages and disadvantages in terms of community, libraries and resources. 1) The Python community is friendly and suitable for beginners, but the front-end development resources are not as rich as JavaScript. 2) Python is powerful in data science and machine learning libraries, while JavaScript is better in front-end development libraries and frameworks. 3) Both have rich learning resources, but Python is suitable for starting with official documents, while JavaScript is better with MDNWebDocs. The choice should be based on project needs and personal interests.

Both Python and JavaScript's choices in development environments are important. 1) Python's development environment includes PyCharm, JupyterNotebook and Anaconda, which are suitable for data science and rapid prototyping. 2) The development environment of JavaScript includes Node.js, VSCode and Webpack, which are suitable for front-end and back-end development. Choosing the right tools according to project needs can improve development efficiency and project success rate.

C and C play a vital role in the JavaScript engine, mainly used to implement interpreters and JIT compilers. 1) C is used to parse JavaScript source code and generate an abstract syntax tree. 2) C is responsible for generating and executing bytecode. 3) C implements the JIT compiler, optimizes and compiles hot-spot code at runtime, and significantly improves the execution efficiency of JavaScript.
