Upcoming SVG support from the Opera and Mozilla Firefox browsers could signal the start of a Web graphics makeover.Since first becoming a Web standard nearly four years ago, SVG has lagged in adoption as developers waited for broader support for next-generation Web graphics.
But upcoming plans from two Web browser makers to natively support the XML-based graphics language could give Scalable Vector Graphics the boost it needs to begin remaking the look and feel of the Web.
Opera Software ASA is the furthest along in building SVG support into its namesake browser. Opera last month became the first major browser with built-in SVG support when it released its latest beta of the next Opera browser version, which is due for a full launch within the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, the open-source Mozilla Firefox browser is incorporating SVG support in Version 1.1, which is expected to be released in June. Nightly builds of the browser are slated to include SVG support within the next few weeks, Mozilla developers said.
By making SVG core to their rendering engines, the Web browsers will remove a major hurdle to the graphic standard's adoption, said Chris Lilley, chair of the World Wide Consortium's SVG Working Group.
"It's been a classic chicken-and-egg problem," Lilley said. "If there's not much content, then people don't see implementations of SVG. And if there are no implementations, then there is no content."
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A lack of browser support has required Web users to download plug-ins, such as Adobe Systems Inc.'s SVG Viewer, to view SVG. Mainstream users have been unlikely to install a plug-in without compelling content, and Web developers have been less willing to create Web pages with SVG if users could not access them, Lilley said.
A combination of trends could break the cycle. Web browser support is coming at a time when mobile phones and devices increasingly have built-in SVG support. For example, the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), a GSM network technical standards body, has begun mandating SVG support for next-generation mobile devices, Lilley said.
For Opera, the mobile arena is of particular interest because it makes a mobile browser, which currently uses an SVG plug-in. By first building SVG into its desktop browser and underlying rendering engine, Opera also is laying the groundwork for expanding its mobile SVG support, said Christen Krogh, Opera's vice president of engineering.
"When taken into account that browsing these days is not only on desktop computers but on TV set-top boxes and mobile devices as well, then you see the factors that we think will push SVG into the center stage," Krogh said.
SVG promises to remodel the way Web graphics are rendered and, possibly, how Web pages are designed. It uses geometry in the form of vectors, rather than pixel-by-pixel bitmaps, to display Web graphics in a method generally considered more efficient.
"Most users are oblivious to SVG right now, but our developers and
contributors are very excited about SVG's potential to expand what's
visually possible on the Web," wrote Robert O'Callahan, a Mozilla developer, in an e-mail interview. "And because our entire application framework is built on Web technology, SVG will enable our application and extension developers to build more creative user interfaces."
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SVG often is touted as an alternative to Macromedia Inc.'s Flash technology. Both can enable interactivity in graphics and be used in the creation of user interfaces, animations and simulations.
Unlike Flash, SVG is an open standard and not wedded to a specific creation tool. SVG is particularly attractive to developers who support the use of standards. It works in consort with such Web standards as XForms, XHTML and XML Schema, leading to the potential for new approaches to developing Web-based applications and user interfaces, said Bill Trippe, a senior editor at the Gilbane Report and a content-management consultant.
"Those things working together make for a potentially much richer client environment," Trippe said. "Now the thin client is much, much more robust."
Early examples of SVG on the Web include sites providing interactive maps and rendering charts on the fly. Enterprises in particular have experimented with SVG for intranet sites, Trippe said. In one example, an eyeglass manufacturer is using SVG in a Web application for adjusting the design of frames for different designers.
SVG's future remains clouded by some uncertainty. The most popular Web browser, Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer, does not support SVG without plug-ins. So far, Microsoft is offering few details about features for its upcoming Internet Explorer 7.0 release. A spokesperson declined to comment about SVG plans.
"Microsoft is famously neutral about standards until they come out fully behind them," Trippe said. "The fact that IE is still such a dominant platform and Web browser really did hurt the development [of SVG]."
Similarly, officials at Apple Computer Inc., which makes the Safari browser built into Mac OS X, did not respond to multiple requests for comment on whether it plans to add browser support for SVG.
Recent inroads into IE's dominance, particularly by Firefox, is leading to more optimism among SVG devotees that Microsoft could eventually support the language in the browser.
SVG also faces some market challenges. Along with browser support, it has been slow to gain support among major creation tools, Trippe said.
But tool support is improving, Lilley said. Among the major tools with SVG support are Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw. GIS and CAD tools also are adding the ability to export into SVG.
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