Text in Canvas

Currently, the Canvas API does not include the ability to draw text strings. That makes several potential Canvas applications, such as dynamic graphs or maps, more complex than necessary. Instead of using the text facilities of the platform, Canvas applications need to bundle their own vector fonts or use inaccessible pre-rendered images for text display. Thus, using Canvas it is unattractive for authors and users are forced to use a proprietary plugin (Flash) for some applications.

Use Case Description

• Maps (Street names, ...)
• All kinds of graphs needing labels
• Games (High score, "Game Over" etc)

Current Limitations

Explanation of why the current markup is insufficient.

• Image workaround destroys potential accessibility options

Current Usage and Workarounds

Some evidence that this feature is desperately needed on the web. You may provide a separate examples page for listing these.

• http://lists.whatwg.org/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/2006-October/007363.html
• http://osteele.com/sources/javascript/docs/textcanvas
• http://canvaspaint.org/blog/2006/12/rendering-text/

Benefits

Explanation of how and why new markup would be useful.

Requests for this Feature

• Source

  I would like this feature ...

Proposed Solutions

My Solution

Brief description of the solution and of how it address the problem at hand.

Processing Model

Explanation of the changes introduced by this solution. It explains how the document is processed, and how errors are handled. This should be very clear, including things such as event timing if the solution involves events, how to create graphs representing the data in the case of semantic proposals, etc.

Limitations

Cases not covered by this solution in relation to the problem description; other problems with this solution, if any.

Implementation

Description of how and why browser vendors would take advantage of this feature.

Adoption

Reasons why page authors would use this solution.