DEV Community

Cover image for Creating and Resizing Canvas - HTML5 Canvas (Part - 1)
Shubham Nagar
Shubham Nagar

Posted on

Creating and Resizing Canvas - HTML5 Canvas (Part - 1)

Creating and resizing an HTML5 Canvas involves setting up the canvas element in your HTML file and handling resizing events using JavaScript.
Below is a step-by-step guide on how to achieve this:

1. Create Your HTML File:

Start by creating a new HTML file and open it in a text editor.
Write the boilerplate code in html file.

Boilerplate code



<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>Document</title>
</head>
<body>

</body>
</html>


Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

2. Adding the canvas element in the html file:

is an HTML element introduced in HTML5. It provides a container for graphics, which can be drawn dynamically using JavaScript.



<canvas id="myCanvas"></canvas>


Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

id="myCanvas": This attribute assigns an identifier to the canvas element. This ID is used to reference the canvas element in JavaScript code for manipulation and drawing.

Adding <canvas> element in html file

3. Live Preview in the Browser:

Click on the Go Live at the bottom of the Visual Studio Code or you can double click on the html file to see the live preview of the browser.

Click on the **Go Live**

Note: Make sure you already installed the Live Server Extension
If you haven't installed the Live Server Extension then you can install it from the extension store in VS Code.

At the left hand side click on the four square icon

Extension Button

Now, search "Live Server" on the search bar

Search Live Server

Click on the first one

Click Live Server

Click on the "Install" to install the Live Server Extension

Live Server Extension

Live Preview in the Browser

Live Preview in the Browser

You saw nothing will be shown in the browser!!

4. Include the css in html for styling



<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">


Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

: This is an HTML element used to link external resources, such as stylesheets or icon sets, to the HTML document.
rel="stylesheet": This attribute specifies the relationship between the linked document and the current document. In this case, it indicates that the linked document is a stylesheet.
href="style.css": This attribute specifies the URL of the external resource being linked to. In this example, it points to a CSS file named "style.css" located in the same directory as the HTML document.

 Include the css in html

Now, style the canvas



#myCanvas {
    border: 1px solid;
}


Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Applied the border to our canvas

CSS

Now, see the preview in the browser

preview in the browser

A rectangular box is visible now

Now, resize the height and width of canvas



#myCanvas {
    border: 1px solid;
    height: 400px;
    width: 500px;
}


Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

sets the height of the canvas element to 400 pixels and the width of the canvas element to 500 pixels.

Resize canvas

Preview will be like this...

Resized canvas

Conclusion

By following these instructions, you have created an HTML5 Canvas element that adapts its size dynamically to the size. With this configuration, you may make canvas-based games or applications that are flexible and responsive.

Follow me on Medium and LinkedIn

Top comments (0)