Mozilla has a impressive demosite running at MozVR.com.
Over the last few years, the web has evolved from a static, fixed width environment to a fully responsive design. What if the next step is Virtual Reality, ported to the webbrowser?
It requires VR hardware (Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard, Sony’s Project Morpheus, …), which hardly anyone has. And it requires Firefox Nightly, which is easier to get.
If those conditions aren’t met, the site and its demos won’t work.
But the site offers a whole lot more than just the demos: it features an active blog and some impressive WebGL based Virtual Reality demos that work even without the Oculus.
There’s even a demo available for use with the Leap Motion.
What if, in 5 to 10 years from now, we’ll consider Responsive Webdesign a thing of the past and Virtual or Augmented Reality is the new hype?
The current hardware for Virtual Reality is bulky, low-res and has a high latency. But if technology has thought us one thing, it’s that hardware gets smaller, faster and cheaper. In the not-so-distant future, Virtual Reality hardware can be as common as wearing contact lenses or normal glasses.
Imagine the visualisations possible with VR. Complex data structures that now use d3js can be viewed in a full 360 degree view. Website navigations and controls can be outside of the normal view and used by tilting your head or viewing left/right. Depth can be used to zoom-in to a website.
What if Virtual Reality really is the future of the web?