Beyond just pretty pictures...

I think a crucial aspect of SVG will be to immediately take it beyond 
"pretty pictures".  Here are some ideas:

1) SVG becomes (along with your own or some other 'standard xml' 
lang) your "master document".  All the interactivity, all the 
conversion information, all the revision notes, etc. all in one 
document (egad Word for the web!).  But what this would mean is you 
author it in one place, hit "export to HTML" or "export to gif" etc. 
and it works seamlessly.  It's sort of what PDF might have been 
except that HTML came along and messed it up for Adobe :)

2) SVG as application chrome - imagine using a Gecko-like svg 
rendering app which uses vectors for the application chrome and is 
always editable, styleable, expandable, etc.  Gecko with XUL is 
almost there, but I dont think Gecko supports SVG yet (at all).

3) SVG as workflow - imagine combining SVG with some sort of workflow 
language to present workflow diagrams which are "live" in that the 
embedded rules control some workflow server

4) SVG as forms tool - build dynamic forms and UI widgets in SVG.

I have some questions - but I will post them in a separate email.

Received on Thursday, 5 August 1999 12:16:17 UTC