Comparing the Built-In Application Architecture Models in the Web Browser

Depending on one's viewpoint, a generic standards-compatible web browser supports three, four or five built-in application rendering and programming models. In this paper, we provide an overview of the built-in client-side web application architectures. While the dominance of the base HTML/CSS/JS technologies cannot be ignored, we foresee Web Components and WebGL gaining popularity as the world moves towards more complex and even richer web applications, including systems supporting virtual and augmented reality.