diff --git a/doc/_static/webagg_screenshot.png b/doc/_static/webagg_screenshot.png
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7480241a593d
Binary files /dev/null and b/doc/_static/webagg_screenshot.png differ
diff --git a/doc/users/whats_new.rst b/doc/users/whats_new.rst
index 1cba586999f1..b0b24a8c2f11 100644
--- a/doc/users/whats_new.rst
+++ b/doc/users/whats_new.rst
@@ -32,6 +32,18 @@ your plot.
 
 .. plot:: mpl_examples/showcase/xkcd.py
 
+WebAgg backend
+--------------
+
+Michael Droettboom, Phil Elson and others have developed a new
+backend, WebAgg, to display figures in a web browser.  It works with
+animations as well as being fully interactive.
+
+.. image:: _static/webagg_screenshot.png
+
+Future versions of matplotlib will integrate this backend with the
+IPython notebook for a fully web browser based plotting frontend.
+
 Path effects on lines
 ---------------------
 Thanks to Jae-Joon Lee, path effects now also work on plot lines.