Particles.js

The core of cuHacking’s signature look.

Particle.js is a popular Javascript library used for creating dynamic particle-based backgrounds or elements. It was created by Vincent Garreau, check it out here. The library is deeply customizable, and offers us the ability to tweak and maintain our use of particles.js across Hackathons.

Before using Particles.js in a project, it's encouraged that you to read over the documentation on Particle.js’s github repository, and play with the different settings on the Particle.js demo.

Browser Compatibility

Particle.js uses an HTML canvas for all the wonderful things it does. Generally, as long as a browser supports a basic HTML canvas - then it should be compatible. At the time of writing, the only browser that should be completely incompatible is IE 6, 7, 8. For more up to date information on canvas support, take a look at this.

Unfortunately, polygon masks (which we don't use at the time of writing) are not supported by any version of Internet Explorer due to their reliance on more complicated SVG functions that IE does not support.

Particles in React

Before April 2019, it was possible but far from straightforward to use Particle.js in a React application. Thankfully, Particle.js was ported into a npm package for react: react-particles-js.