SVG Tiny 1.2 Published as a W3C Recommendation
December 23, 2008 - 8:23pm
2008-12-22: Yesterday, W3C announced the publication of the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Tiny 1.2 specification as a W3C Recommendation. SVG Tiny 1.2 is a format suitable for everything from mobile devices to embedded multimedia systems to desktop browsers. It is already deployed widely on mobile phones and other devices around the world, where it is used both to browse Web content and as the main user interface for the device. Scalable Vector Graphics is used as both a Web-viewable interchange format and as an interactive multimedia platform, and is a key part of the sustainable Web.
New Features and Ease-of-Use
SVG Tiny 1.2 includes several improvements to the language, and key new features that SVG authors have been waiting for. Multimedia features such as synchronized interactive audio, video, and animation allow authors to create compelling content across platforms and devices, using open standards. The MicroDOM (or uDOM) gives developers more control than ever over scripted behaviors, with easier and more intuitive programming interfaces, and builds on DOM interfaces to include standardized keyboard support. Accessibility, internationalization, and localization are built into the language from the ground floor, and this specification improves upon those capabilities and adds clearer guidelines for using them. SVG Tiny 1.2 also includes attributes for semantic Web technologies such as RDFa, Microformats, and other metadata formats to allow authors to add meaning to their visual message. And as ever, text is SVG is not just an image, but is searchable and selectable, and SVG Tiny 1.2 makes it easier to use with the inclusion of auto-wrapping text fields and editable text, as well as custom fonts.
Extensible and Durable
SVG Tiny 1.2 will be followed by a set of SVG specification modules that extend its capabilities, including more advanced graphical and layout features, and tighter integration with other key Web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and Javascript. SVG Tiny 1.2 will serve as the core for these independent modules, allowing the language to quickly grow to meet author, developer, and user needs. As an open standard and a W3C Recommendation, authors and users can depend on backwards compatibility with earlier versions of the language, and forwards compatibility with future versions, so content is stable and robust.
Wide Support for SVG
As an open standard, SVG is well-supported in the majority of modern browser, with active development and rapid improvement in both interoperability and performance. The SVG Tiny 1.2 specification, intended at first chiefly for mobile devices, is seeing wider deployment among all classes of browsers and devices, with features from SVG Tiny 1.2 implemented in mainstream browsers. Professional authoring tools, both commercial and open-source, allow authors to easily create rich graphical content that can be shared and reused. For more details about industry support, see the SVG Tiny 1.2 testimonials page, which will be updated independently.
The SVG Working Group, with Erik Dahlström (Opera Software ASA) and Andrew Emmons (W3C Invited Expert, formerly of BitFlash) as current co-chairs of the group, and Chis Lilley (W3C) and Nandini Ramani (Sun Microsystems) as past chairs, have created a more precise specification and more complete test suite to ensure interoperability, and to improve the experience for all users of Scalable Vector Graphics, and are committed to continue on this course. Implementors and other interested parties are invited to join the SVG Working Group to take SVG to the next level.
Comments
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Very helpful and useful.
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#2 BitFlash has done a great job
BitFlash has done a great job of advancing the adoption of SVG. They have since licensed their SVG Tiny technology to mobile and consumer electronics suppliers all over the world, including marquee companies such as Sharp, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, KDDI au, NEC, and UIQ Technologies. It's great to see that 1.2 is now formally being taken up as a standard.
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