World Wide Web Consortium Issues Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.0 as a Recommendation

SVG Delivers XML-Based Vector Graphics to the Web

Testimonials

 

http://www.w3.org/ -- 5 September 2001 -- The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has issued Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.0 as a W3C Recommendation, representing cross-industry agreement on an XML-based language that allows authors to create two dimensional vector graphics. A W3C Recommendation indicates that a specification is stable, contributes to Web interoperability, and has been reviewed by the W3C Membership, who favor its widespread adoption.

W3C Meets the Needs of Web Designers with Scalable Vector Graphics

Web designers have requirements for graphics formats which display well on a range of different devices, screen sizes, and printer resolutions. They need rich graphical capabilities, good internationalization, responsive animation and interactive behavior in a way that takes advantage of the growing XML infrastructure used in e-commerce, publishing, and business to business communication.

"With SVG, Web Graphics move firmly from mere decoration to true graphical information," declared Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director. "Scalable Vector Graphics are the key to providing rich, reusable visual content for the Web. At last, designers have the open graphics format they need to make professional graphics not only work visually on the Web, but perform as searchable, reusable Web content."

XML Brings Searchability, Dynamism, and Extensibility

"Designers are reaching larger audiences with an increasing variety of Web-enabled devices from palmtops to desktops to printers. They need graphics which can be restyled for different purposes," explained Chris Lilley, W3C Graphics Activity Lead. "But most of all, they need to be able to handle their graphics the same way as their text and business data, which nowadays are in XML. SVG is specifically designed to let them do that."

Web designers demand vendor-neutral, cross-platform interoperability. W3C's Extensible Markup Language (XML) has become the universal format for document and data interchange on the Web. SVG 1.0 brings the advantages of XML to the world of vector graphics. It enables the textual content of graphics - from logos to diagrams - to be searched, indexed, and displayed in multiple languages. This is a significant benefit for both accessibility and internationalization.

SVG 1.0 builds on other W3C specifications such as the Document Object Model (DOM), which allows for easy server-side generation and dynamic, client-side modification of graphics and text. SVG 1.0 also benefits from W3C technologies such as CSS and XSL style sheets, RDF metadata, XML Linking, and SMIL Animation, which also advanced to Recommendation today.

In addition to being an excellent format for stand-alone graphics, the full power of SVG 1.0 is seen when it is combined with other XML grammars; for example to deliver multimedia applications, or provide rendering capability for business data - from interactive charts to process visualization. "The declarative facilities of SMIL Animation, combined with scripting through the DOM, opens new possibilities for Web-based interface design," added Dean Jackson, W3C Team Contact for the SVG Working Group and W3C Fellow from CSIRO.

Bringing the XML advantage to vector graphics benefits all industries which depend on rich graphics delivery - advertising, electronic commerce, process control, mapping, financial services, and education all have immediate needs for SVG 1.0.

SVG 1.0 Implementations Demonstrate Interoperability Through Testing

Following W3C Process, the SVG Working Group was required to prove that their specification was sound and implementable. Through vigorous testing, the SVG Working Group was able to demonstrate implementations of SVG in a wide range of Open Source and commercial SVG implementations already available in the marketplace, with more implementations under development.

Created by the SVG Working Group, the SVG 1.0 Test Suite plays an essential role in evaluating SVG implementations. While the changes between the SVG 1.0 Candidate Recommendation version and the final Recommendation are small, the SVG Test Suite, updated to match the SVG 1.0 Recommendation, is to be released once all Quality Assurance work is complete.

Increasing numbers of drawing tools export to SVG 1.0, and SVG can now be viewed on many platforms from desktops to handheld devices. SVG implementations are not limited to static tools. Database-driven, dynamically created graphics are a natural fit for SVG. Forward-looking designers, who already understand the benefits of vector graphics, are now gaining experience with SVG on the client and server ends, and XML integration.

SVG Enjoys Broad, Continued Industry Support

Key industry and research players have contributed to the SVG 1.0 Specification. The newly rechartered SVG Working Group continues to drive the technology forward with work on modularized SVG (1.1) and SVG 2.0, which focuses on profiles for mobile devices and printing. The full list of participants are, in alphabetical order: Adobe Systems, AOL/Netscape, Apple, Autodesk, Bitflash, Canon, Corel, CSIRO, Eastman Kodak, Ericsson, Excosoft, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, ILOG, IntraNet Systems, KDDI, Macromedia, Microsoft, Nokia, OASIS, Openwave, Opera, Oxford Brookes University, Quark, Savage Software, Schemasoft, Sun Microsystems, Xerox, and ZoomOn.

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, over 520 organizations are Members of the Consortium. For more information see http://www.w3.org/

 

Contact America --

Janet Daly, <janet@w3.org>, +1.617.253.5884 or +1.617.253.2613

Contact Europe --

Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33.492.38.75.94

Contact Asia --

Saeko Takeuchi <saeko@w3.org>, +81.466.49.1170

SVG 1.0 Testimonials

In English: Adobe Systems | BitFlash Inc. | Canon Inc. | Corel Corporation | CSIRO | HP | ILOG | Jasc Software |KDDI | Lofton Henderson | Primaci | Savage Software | Schema Software | Sun Microsystems | ZoomON

In French: Adobe Systems | Corel Corporation | ILOG | Primaci | Savage Software | Schema Software | Sun Microsystems

In German: Adobe Systems

In Japanese: Adobe Systems | Canon Inc. | KDDI | Schema Software | Sun Microsystems

 

Adobe is very pleased that the SVG specification has been officially approved as a W3C Recommendation. SVG is a fundamental element of Adobe's Network Publishing strategy as demonstrated by ongoing SVG Viewer development, industry education through the Adobe SVG Zone, and continued SVG feature development in the Adobe product portfolio. It will allow developers to present dynamic data driven information in a graphical format and empower designers to create interactive, personalized graphics. The SVG Viewer is enjoying wide distribution as a standard part of the Adobe Acrobat® 5.0 Reader installation. With Adobe Illustrator® 9.0 and Adobe GoLive® 5.0 already supporting SVG, the standard is gaining significant momentum in the web authoring, developer, and IT communities.

-- Harry Vitelli, Senior Director, Product Management, Web Developer Products, Adobe Systems

BitFlash is honored to participate in the W3C SVG Working Group. We are particularly excited about the group's recognition of SVG as an important standard. Our flagship product, the BitFlash Mobility Suite, is an implementation of SVG technology. By delivering rich visual functionality to mobile devices regardless of device, network, or application, it is the first product of its kind to give users true mobility. It is helping enterprises, carriers, device manufacturers, and content providers visualize the future. And we see that future including SVG.

-- Frédéric Charpentier, Chief Technology Officer, BitFlash Inc.

The Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) standard from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) holds the key to unifying the imaging model and semantic structure for displaying and printing Internet contents. Canon welcomes SVG becoming W3C Recommendation and expects it to play an important role as a document format used in the circulation of documents in the Internet era.

-- Satoshi Nagata, Senior General Manager, Office Imaging Products System Development Center 2, Canon Inc.

Corel is excited to see Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) accepted as a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Recommendation. SVG will allow people to exchange graphics-rich information in a format that is adaptable to the high rate of innovation in our industry. The mobile device and Web service industries will quickly benefit from the adoption of SVG as an open-standard for vector graphics. SVG will provide a means for people to communicate and experience graphics more quickly and more dynamically on any platform, in any place. Since 1999 our CorelDRAW customers have had access to the powerful SVG import and export capabilities that make it easy to share and preserve vector images. SVG removes the limitations on where and when graphics can be used and will allow communications to advance as quickly as our imaginations can cultivate new ideas. Its XML foundation, scalability and interactivity make SVG the natural evolution in graphics standards, empowering our customers to create anytime and anywhere, and introducing all new possibilities in dynamic and interactive graphics." -- .

-- Rene Schmidt, Chief Technology Officer, Corel Corporation

CSIRO is very pleased to see SVG become a Recommendation and also pleased to have participated in such an effective international collaborative effort. As Australia's premier research and development organisation, CSIRO believes that SVG has tremendous potential across a wide range of markets including web-enabled graphics, desktop publishing, and especially mobile computing, which is recognised as a major growth area. SVG will have significant impact in the mobile marketplace as an enabling technology.

-- Dr Geoff Garrett, Chief Executive Officer, CSIRO Australia

Hewlett Packard believes strongly that, only through open standards, will the true potential of the internet be realized. Open standards, such as SVG, insure that the power of the web will be available to the broadest number of businesses and people around the world. SVG will play an important role in facilitating the flow of information across the internet. SVG combines a powerful imaging and XML content model that can be widely deployed to meet a myriad of content management needs.

-- Lee Caldwell, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Imaging & Printing Systems, Hewlett Packard

The SVG specification will be an important milestone in the progression of the Web as a more user-centric environment. As the future of web graphics, SVG will allow for the creation of richer, more interactive web sites with graphical content that can be more easily exchanged over the Web. ILOG is pleased to have been a part of bringing it into being - as a W3C SVG working group member, as a vendor with one of the first commercial products to support SVG, ILOG JViews, and finally, as an open source contributor with Batik, the Apache XML toolkit for SVG.

-- Patrick Albert, Chief Technology Officer, ILOG

Jasc Software supports efforts to create Web standards that are open and accessible to all vendors and end-users, and we are very pleased to see the SVG specification approved as a W3C Recommendation. Through the use of SVG authoring programs such as Jasc WebDraw, Web designers and developers of all levels will be able to immediately begin transforming the Web into a truly interactive and visually attractive form of communication.

-- Kris Tufto, CEO, Jasc Software

KDDI, a major Japanese cellular phone career (infrastructure provider), has committed to popularizing the Web service for cellular phone, and KDDI R&D Laboratories, a leading expert of information and tele-communication technology, is currently developing the SVG contents sharing platform. By the emergence of open vector graphics "SVG" with high interactivity and extensibility, we strongly believe that SVG will become the major communication media for future cellular phone users.

-- Shuichi Matsumoto, Executive Director, KDDI R&D Laboratories Incorporated

I'm happy to see SVG 1.0 progress to Recommendation, and to have been able to play a part in the work as Editor of the SVG Test Suite. Along with the other W3C graphics Recommendations, WebCGM and PNG, SVG 1.0 finally rounds out a nice complement of graphics capabilities for Web users and technology suppliers.

-- Lofton Henderson, Structured Graphics Consultant and Invited Expert, SVG WG.

Primaci is excited about the future of SVG for data visualization, and congratulates the W3C on reaching recommendation status. Visualizing large datasets, especially with Bioinformatic data, means you need crisp responsive graphics in a format easy to manipulate. SVG, with its XML syntax is a natural fit for Primaci, as it marries visualization capabilities with our XML expertise.

-- Chris Boothroyd, CTO Primaci, A Life Science Company

Savage Software is pleased to support recommendation status for SVG. As members of the current W3C Working Group, we will use our expertise to contribute to the further development of the SVG specification. Savage Software uses SVG not only to visualize content, but as our backbone format for converting and enhancing all types of data with our DataSlinger product. Using SVG, we have been able to deliver data-rich interactive content to a multitude of devices, and new opportunities arise each day we work with SVG.

-- Scott Wiebe, President, Savage Software

As experienced SVG software consultants and active participants since the SVG Working Group's inception, SchemaSoft is thrilled with W3C's endorsement of SVG. Higher quality, more interactive graphical Web content is now possible at snappier download speeds. By generating SVG content on the fly from server data, the next generation of distributed Web applications and services will provide much more powerful, compelling graphical front ends. SchemaSoft makes such graphically rich Web applications possible with "Catwalk", its tool for fast and easy creation of SVG-generating Web applications.

-- Philip Mansfield, President, Schema Software Inc.

Sun strongly endorses SVG 1.0 as a W3C Recommendation. We have been contributing to W3C's SVG work and to Apache's open-source Batik project, which has been making excellent progress towards its goal of fully implementing SVG. With the availability of a completed, stable SVG specification and the latest release of Batik, developers and users can create, view, and exchange graphical content between applications and across the Web in an interoperable and economical fashion.

-- Vincent Hardy, Senior Staff Engineer at Sun Microsystems, W3C Fellow and co-founder of the Batik team

ZoomON is the maker of graphics authoring tools and graphics application for mobile environments. We are very pleased by the release of SVG 1.0 as a W3C Recommendation. We believe that SVG will play a significant role in mobile graphical applications where scalability and size of the graphical content are of high importance for the user experience. ZoomON has demonstrated it's commitment to SVG by adding SVG 1.0 filters to it's line of authoring tools.

-- Casper Harnung, Chief Technology Officer, ZoomON AB

Adobe est très heureux d'annoncer que les spécifications du format SVG ont été approuvées en tant que recommandation du W3C. Le format SVG est un élément fondamental dans la stratégie d'Adobe du Network Publishing, et qui a été mis en avant avec les développements du SVG Viewer, l'information auprès des industries au travers de l'Adobe SVG Zone, ou bien encore les développements des fonction SVG dans la gamme de produits d'Adobe. Cela permettra aux développeurs d'intégrer des informations dynamiques dans un format graphique, et aux designers de créer des graphiques personnalisés et interactifs. Le viewer SVG bénéficiera d'une large distribution étant un élément standard dans l'installation d'Acrobat® Reader. Avec Adobe Illustrator® 9.0, Adobe GoLive® 5.0 qui supportent déjà le format SVG, ce standard est en train de prendre son élan avec les outils de création de sites web, chez les développeurs ainsi que dans les communautés IT.

-- Harry Vitelli, Senior Director, Product Management, Web Developer Products, Adobe Systems

Corel est ravie de voir adopté le format d'images vectorielles modulables (SVG) recommandé par le World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Le format SVG permettra d'échanger des documents très élaborés sur le plan graphique et de suivre le rythme frénétique des innovations dans notre industrie. Les fabricants d'appareils numériques et les fournisseurs de services Web ne tarderont pas à profiter du standard SVG, car celui-ci aura pour effet d'accélérer la visualisation et l'échange des graphismes vectoriels sous toutes les plates-formes et en tout temps. Précisons que, depuis 1999, CorelDRAW offre de puissantes fonctions d'importation et d'exportation des fichiers SVG, simplifiant ainsi le partage et le stockage d'images vectorielles. Le format SVG élimine les contraintes liées à l'exploitation des graphismes et nous permettra de communiquer de nouvelles idées à la vitesse de notre imagination. Basé sur le langage XML, modulable et interactif, le format SVG est l?aboutissement naturel de l'évolution des normes graphiques. Grâce à lui, les clients pourront créer à loisir et enrichir leurs créations de nouveaux éléments aussi dynamiques qu'interactifs.

-- Rene Schmidt, Chef du Service des technologies de Corel Corporation

La spécification SVG sera une importante étape dans l'évolution du Web vers un environnement mieux centré sur l'utilisateur. Futur standard graphique pour le Web, SVG permettra de créer des sites plus riches, plus interactifs, et dont le contenu s'échangera plus facilement en ligne. ILOG est heureux d'avoir participé à son élaboration en qualité de membre du groupe de travail SVG du W3C, de fournisseur d'un des premiers produits commerciaux conformes à SVG, ILOG JViews, et enfin en qualité de contributeur au projet Open Source Batik, la boîte à outils Apache XML pour SVG.

-- Patrick Albert, Chief Technology Officer, ILOG

Primaci est très enthousiaste sur l'avenir de SVG pour la visualisation de données et félicite le W3C pour avoir atteint les recommandations. Visualiser un grand nombre d'informations, notamment avec la donnée Bioinformatique, nécessite des graphiques fiables et précis dans un format facile à manipuler. SVG, avec sa syntaxe XML, s'accorde parfaitement avec Primaci puisqu'il marrie les capacités de visualisation avec notre expertise XML.

-- Chris Boothroyd, CTO Primaci, A Life Science Company

Savage Software est heureuse que SVG devienne une recommandation du W3C. En tant que membres du groupe de travail W3C, nous utiliserons notre expertise pour contribuer au développement ultérieur de la spécification SVG. Savage Software utilise SVG non seulement pour visualiser le contenu, mais aussi comme format principal pour convertir et mettre en valeur tout type d'information grâce à notre produit DataSlinger. En utilisant SVG, nous avons pu livrer un contenu interactif riche en information à une multitude de périphériques et de nouvelles possibilités émergent chaque jour lorsque nous travaillons avec SVG.

-- Scott Wiebe, President, Savage Software

À titre de consultant chevronné en matière de logiciel de SVG et de membre actif du groupe de travail SVG depuis sa création, SchemaSoft est ravi de l'approbation que le W3C vient d'accorder au SVG. Un contenu graphique de page Web plus interactif et de qualité supérieure est maintenant possible à des vitesses de téléchargement encore plus vertigineuses. En générant le contenu SVG sur le vif, à partir des données du serveur, la prochaine génération d'applications et de services distribués sur le Web fournira des frontales graphiques beaucoup plus puissantes et impressionnantes. Des applications Web d'une telle richesse graphique sont maintenant possibles grâce à «Catwalk», un outil conçu par SchemaSoft permettant de créer rapidement et facilement des applications Web qui produisent SVG.

-- Philip Mansfield, Président, Schema Software Inc.

Sun soutient très fortement la recommendation SVG 1.0. Nous avons contribué au groupe de travail SVG du W3C et au projet open-source Batik au sein d'Apache, projet qui a remarquablement progressé vers son but d'implémenter SVG complètement. Avec la disponibilité d'une spécification complète et stable et la dernière version de Batik, les dévelopeurs et les utilisateurs peuvent créer, visionner et échanger des graphiques entre applications et sur le Web de facon économique et interopérable.

-- Vincent Hardy, Senior Staff Engineer at SunMicrosystems, W3C Fellow and co-founder of the Batik team

Adobe begrüßt die Entscheidung des W3C, die SVG-Spezifikation als offizielle Empfehlung der Organisation einzustufen. SVG ist ein wesentlicher Bestandteil der Network Publishing-Strategie von Adobe. Deutlich wird dies unter anderem in der Weiterentwicklung des Moduls SVG Viewer, in der Bereitstellung von Informationen in der Adobe SVG Zone und der ständigen Erweiterung von SVG-Funktionen in Adobe-Produkten. SVG ermöglicht zum e inen Entwicklern die Aufbereitung Daten-gestützter Informationen in einem Grafikformat und zum anderen Designern die Gestaltung interaktiver, personalisierter Grafiken. Als Standardkomponente von Adobe Acrobat® Reader 5.0 findet der SVG Viewer immer mehr Anwender. Durch die Unterstützung von SVG in Adobe Illustrator® 9.0 und Adobe GoLive® 5.0 etabliert sich das Format mehr und mehr in den Bereichen Web-Authoring, Entwicklung und IT.

-- Harry Vitelli, Senior Director, Product Management, Web Developer Products, Adobe Systems

私共、アドビシステムズ社は、 SVG（Scalable Vector Graphics）が W3C勧告として正式に認められたことを非常に喜ばしく思います。 SVGは、アドビのネットワークパブリッシング戦略を担うので、アドビでは SVG Viewerの開発を継続して行なうとともに、 Webサイト上で展開している SVG Zoneを通じての情報提供や、アドビ製品群への SVG機能の搭載などを推進しています。 SVGによって、デベロッパはデータ駆動型の動的な情報をグラフィカルに表現することが可能となり、デザイナはインタラクティブでカスタマイズされたグラフィックを作成できるようになります。 SVG Viewer は、 Adobe(R) Acrobat(R) Reader 5.0をインストールすることによって自動的にインストールされるので、 Adobe Acrobat Reader 同様に広く利用されています。 SVG は、 Adobe Illustrator(R) 9.0 および Adobe GoLive(R) 5.0ですでにサポートされており、 Webオーサリング、デベロッパ、 および ITコミュニティで高い注目を集めています。

-- Harry Vitelli, Senior Director, ProductManagement, Web Developer Products, Adobe Systems

W3C による Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)標準化は、インターネットコンテンツの表示や印刷のためのイメージングモデルとセマンティクス構造を統一していく上でのキーとなる技術です。キヤノンはこの SVG が W3C勧告になったことを心より歓迎するとともに、 SVGが今後のインターネットの世界で流通するドキュメントフォーマットとして重要な位置をしめるものと期待しています。

--永田聡、所長、映像事務機システム第二開発センター、キヤノン株式会社

KDDI株式会社は日本の携帯電話キャリアであり、携帯電話用 Web サービスの普及に取り組んでいる。また株式会社 KDDI研究所は、情報通信技術に関する先端的な研究開発を行っており、現在、次世代携帯電話のための SVGコンテンツ共有プラットホームの開発を行っている。高い対話性、拡張性を備えたオープンなベクトルグラフィクス「 SVG」の誕生によって、我々は将来、携帯電話ユーザにとって SVGが主要なコミュニケーションメディアになると確信している。

-- 松本修一、執行役員、株式会社 KDDI研究所

経験ある SVGソフトウェアのコンサルタントとして、また SVGワーキンググループ発足以来の積極的な参加者として、 SchemaSoftはW3CのSVG認可にたいへん興奮しております。より高品質で、よりインタラクティブなグラフィカルウェブコンテンツが、より早いダウンロードスピードで可能になったのです。サーバーサイドで動的に SVGコンテンツを生成することにより、次世代の分散型ウェブアプリケーションとサービスは、より一層パワフルで、より確かなグラフィカルフロントエンドを供給します。 SchemaSoftはそのような画像が豊富なウェブアプリケーションを "Catwalk"により可能にしました。このツールで SVGを生成するウェブアプリケーションを素早く簡単に作成することができます。

 

--フィリップ・マンスフィールド　 Schema Software Inc.代表取締役社長

サンは、 自信をもって SVG 1.0 を W3C Recommendationとして支持します。 サンは、 W3C の SVGへの取り組みおよび、 SVG完全導入というゴール達成へと素晴らしい進歩を続けている、 Apache のオープンソース Batikプロジェクトに貢献してきました。完了済みの安定性した SVG 仕様および最新リリースの Batikにより、開発者およびユーザは、相互運用が可能な経済的な方法で、アプリケーション間およびウェブ上で、画像コンテンツを作成、表示、および交換できます。

-- Vincent Hardy, Senior Staff Engineer at SunMicrosystems, W3C Fellow and co-founder of the Batik team