XML Standards Update; A Busy Summer for W3C!

SVG Becomes a Proposed Recommendation

On July 19, 2001, W3C announced the advancement of the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG 1.0) Specification to Proposed Recommendation. According to the W3C announcement, "SVG delivers two-dimensional vector graphics and mixed vector and raster graphics to the Web in XML, ensuring accessibility, dynamism, reusability, and extensibility."

SVG is a unique graphics standard in that it allows for three types of graphic objects: vector graphic shapes such as straight lines and curves, as well as images and text. All are integrated in SVG using XML.  SVG's XML markup allows for graphical objects to be grouped, styled, transformed and composited into previously rendered objects. Text can be in any XML namespace.  This means that SVG graphics are far more searchable and accessible than graphics in other formats.

SVG also differs from other graphic formats in that they can be dynamic and interactive. The Document Object Model (DOM) for SVG, which includes the full XML DOM, allows for straightforward and efficient vector graphics animation via scripting. A rich set of event handlers such as onmouseover and onclick can be assigned to any SVG graphical object. SVG was specifically developed to be compatible with other Web standards and to leverage the power of these standards.  This means that features like scripting can be done on SVG elements and other XML elements from different namespaces simultaneously within the same Web page.

SMIL Animation Becomes a Proposed Recommendation

W3C also announced the advancement of SMIL Animation to Proposed Recommendation on July 19. SMIL Animation is a subset of the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language 2.0.  SMIL Animation puts animation on a time line, allows composition of multiple animations, and describes animation elements for any XML-based host language.

CSS3 Advances in July 2001

A number of CSS3 Working Drafts were published for comment in July.  On July 13, the CSS Working Group published a first Working Draft of CSS3 module: Cascading and inheritance. Part of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Level 2 rewritten as a module for CSS Level 3, the draft describes how values are assigned to properties using the cascade mechanism, inheritance, and initial values.  The CSS Working Group also published a first Working Draft of CSS3 module: Values and Units. This draft describes the values and units that CSS properties accept. It explains specified, computed, and actual values.  Then on July 26 the Working Group released the first Working Draft of CSS3 module: the box model. This module describes the layout of textual documents in visual media.

Return to TOC