Re: Using CSS Transitions/Animations with SVG attributes

On 19/03/2011, at 3:13 AM, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:

> On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 6:13 PM, Boris Zbarsky <bzbarsky@mit.edu> wrote:
>> On 3/15/11 6:23 PM, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:
>>> 
>>> At the 15Mar2011 FXTF conference call, we discussed the proposals for
>>> applying CSS Transitions and Animations to SVG.
>> 
>> I have to ask.  Is there a reason SMIL is insufficient here?  Last I
>> checked, that works pretty well for SVG...
> 
> The biggest problem with SMIL is that it's not CSS.  ^_^  It's a
> different animation model that's only applicable to SVG (plus maybe
> other languages that aren't really part of the web).  It won't ever be
> applicable to HTML.

I assume you're implying that no browser would ever bother to implement it, as opposed to a technical limitation.

SMIL works fine in HTML. In fact, Internet Explorer has supported it since 2000!
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms976099.aspx

>  CSS Transitions/Animations are already usable
> across HTML, and on the handful of SVG attributes that are currently
> mapped to properties (the list of which is pretty arbitrary).  It
> appears that CSS T/A is the most reasonable way forward if we want a
> single animation model for the web (which seems like a desirable
> goal).
> 
> Basically, it would suck if authors have to learn two vaguely similar
> animation models just so they can use SVG and HTML together.  It would
> also suck if the two animation models had different capabilities.
> SMIL is more powerful than CSS T/A right now, but I expect CSS T/A to
> grow in capability and eventually match and exceed SMIL's power in
> most areas.
> 
> While we won't ever get rid of SMIL, given the weight of SVG 1.1
> content on the web, we can at least make it unimportant for new
> authors to learn.

There will still be things that either SMIL can do and CSS can't, or that are simply better/easier in SMIL. Let's not plan to kill it.

Dean

Received on Friday, 18 March 2011 20:19:58 UTC