Rationale - Why this is an important issue.

The ability to integrated SVG and HTML, presents some interesting possibilities for future websites. Consider the following: As far as I know, none of this is possible with any current HTML features. Images, the box model, etc... all create a blocking square, that bocks access to content underneath. In addition, the blocking area is always a rectangular shape. SVG presents an opportunity to create any shape graphics that can block the content underneath in only the areas that a page author specifies (no more invisible blocking square or even being limited to 100% transparent areas). I would classify the html-svg interaction as very important to the future use of SVG+HTML. By integrating into pages in the manner described above, SVG could be used as more than just an image format; it could be used as a way to graphically enhance pages.

Example(s).

Here are a few examples of what you might be able to do with these kinds of features. (Firefox - fails, Opera - works)

Ultimate Goal regarding this issue.

HTML+SVG interaction is one of those core issue that you need to get right if people can use SVG in the ways I described earlier. This means all the browsers need to handle it correctly (whatever that means) as soon as possible, so that sites can take advantage of it as soon as feasable.

The first step is to check the spec.

Problem - the spec? the browsers? or both?

After some research and discussion, it seems like the major issues could be resolved if all browsers follow the current SVG spec properly. However, the full solution is not quite that simple. There are some gaps and conflicts in the spec that need to be dealt with; the spec does not quite deal with all the issues. As a result, each browser has various quirks, bugs, and differences in implemenation. Not only that, but the implementers of the browsers seem to even disagree about the right way it should be done according to the "spec".