Rendering in Canvas vs. DOM: the debate is back
A post arguing that web apps should be built in Canvas instead of HTML got a spirited thread. The two strongest objections: accessibility (Canvas is a black box to screen readers without significant extra work) and developer tooling (browser devtools become nearly useless when everything is drawn on a canvas). Proponents pointed out that browser engineers themselves have noted HTML/CSS is not a natural interface into the rendering engine.
This debate surfaces every few years and always lands in the same place. Canvas gives you control and performance. The DOM gives you accessibility, tooling, and the entire ecosystem of CSS, browser extensions, and assistive technology. The tradeoff is real and the right answer depends on what you are building.
The interesting subtext is that several popular new-generation UI frameworks (Figma being the canonical example) are canvas-based and wildly successful. The question is whether that approach makes sense outside of design-tool-class applications.
So what?
If you are building a highly interactive product (whiteboard, design tool, game, data visualization), Canvas is worth taking seriously and the ecosystem has matured. If you are building anything else, the accessibility and tooling costs are not worth it, and betting on Canvas means betting against the entire browser platform's direction on accessibility compliance.