World Wide Web Consortium Issues Scalable Vector Graphics -SVG- 1.1 and Mobile SVG as Candidate Recommendations.

Business/Technology Editors

http://www.w3.org/ --(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 30, 2002

Open Graphics Format Extends Multimedia Beyond the Desktop to

Cellphones and Pocket Computers

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has issued Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 and Mobile SVG Profiles as W3C Candidate Recommendations. Advancement of these documents to Candidate Recommendation is a statement that the specifications are stable, and an invitation to the Web development community at large to make further implementations of SVG and provide technical feedback. SVG 1.1 separates SVG capabilities into reusable building blocks, and SVG Mobile re-combines them in a way optimized for mobile devices.

SVG 1.1 Brings Modularization to Vector Graphics

The graphical capabilities of SVG 1.1 are the same as those of the widely implemented SVG 1.0 , which has been a W3C Recommendation since 4 September 2001. What has changed is the way the language is defined. For SVG 1.0, the Document Type Definition (DTD) was a single, monolithic unit. In SVG 1.1, the DTD is divided up into smaller, more flexible functional building blocks that can be reassembled in different ways for different purposes. The SVG Working Group used the same proven modularization techniques pioneered by the HTML Working Group for XHTML modularization.

Mobile SVG Profiles bring Vector Graphics to Handheld Devices

There is an explosion of interest in handheld devices and mobile phones which have color screens, improved processing power and can deliver enhanced multimedia functionality. These still fall short of the capabilities of desktop and laptop machines, but are now capable of displaying Web standard technologies such as XHTML, SMIL and SVG. W3C has used the SVG 1.1 building blocks to make two profiles or subsets of full SVG; SVG Tiny, aimed at multimedia capable cellphones such as the recently announced 3G units, and SVG Basic for handheld and palmtop computers.

"Cellphones allow Internet and Web access for millions of people who don't have access to desktop machines, temporarily or otherwise," said Dean Jackson, W3C Fellow from CSIRO. "With 3GPP already incorporating Mobile SVG, we can look forward to more rich and useful content in third generation cellphones."

Instead of sending text messages or canned, bitmap logos, SVG Tiny makes it possible to send a colorful animated multimedia message. Instead of juggling a laptop or taking a static printout to the factory floor, construction site, hospital ward, or trading room, SVG Basic enables the mobile professional to consult up to date, interactive, informative graphics on a convenient pocket computer which is dynamically updated over a wireless network connected to the XML information hub of the enterprise.

SVG 1.1 Integrates with Open Technologies, XML components

Another way that W3C and others are making use of the modular SVG 1.1 building blocks is to combine them with building blocks form other W3C technologies to produce more powerful, integrated solutions. Examples include the combination of SVG and XForms to construct graphically rich, interactive input forms, or SVG and SMIL Basic to combine vector graphics with streaming audio and video. Today, W3C also released the first Working Draft of an integrated XHTML, MathML and SVG specification as an example of such integration; it forms an excellent foundation for scientific and technical communication including text with headings, lists and tables; mathematical equations, and interactive graphs and diagrams.

"As with all W3C Recommendations, SVG builds on established, open W3C technologies such as XML, CSS and DOM. SVG also has received rigorous review for Internationalization and Web Accessibility requirements, which results in natural integration with existing technologies. This maximizes application power while minimizing its footprint," said Chris Lilley, chair of the SVG Working Group and member of the W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG). "Adopting open, truly standards-based solutions is already showing return on investment; the pieces fit together in powerful, extensible and economical ways."

SVG Mobile is Ready for Implementors

Candidate Recommendation is W3C's public call for implementation, an explicit invitation for W3C Members and the developer community at large to review the Mobile SVG specification, build their own implementations of Mobile SVG and create Mobile SVG content for testing. W3C also invites the developer community to create multi-namespace SVG documents and to create document types that include SVG as the graphical component. This period of implementation and reporting allows the Working Group to learn how other developers are using SVG, and where there may be ambiguities for implementors. Public testing and implementation contribute to more robust Mobile SVG and SVG 1.1 specifications, and to more deployment on a wider variety of platforms.

SVG Has Broad, Continued Industry Support

The SVG Working Group has benefitted from the expertise of leading names in the graphics and mobile communications industries, including: Adobe, Agfa-Gevaert N.V., America Online Inc., BitFlash, Canon, Corel Corporation, CSIRO, Eastman Kodak, Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, ILOG S.A., KDDI Research Labs, Nokia, Openwave Systems Ltd, Quark, Savage Software, Schema Software, Sharp Corporation, Sun Microsystems Inc. and ZOOMON AB. Many have pledged product support for SVG 1.1 and Mobile SVG.

For more information on SVG, see the W3C SVG Overview.

About the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

The W3C was created to lead the Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability. It is an international industry consortium jointly run by the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (MIT LCS) in the USA, the National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA) in France and Keio University in Japan. Services provided by the Consortium include: a repository of information about the World Wide Web for developers and users, and various prototype and sample applications to demonstrate use of new technology. To date, nearly 500 organizations are Members of the Consortium. For more information see http://www.w3.org/