Re: SVG and the promise of smaller size

Hi,
It seems my making some content available on the site 
(http://indy.cs.concordia.ca/svg/) started the hoopla about "SVG and File Size."
SVG AND INDUCTIVE CONCLUSIONS/GENERALIZATIONS
I have not seen or made claims stating that SVG files will ALWAYS be smaller. 
Furthermore, just because files 1,2,3 are large does not imply that file n will also be, 
and otherwise.
Not all GIF images made shown on the site are in their actual size. They were reduced 
in some cases to fit the corresponding page. Mentioning this fact was not deemed 
necessary as the purpose was to illustrate different USES of SVG and NOT to prove 
its viability (which has already been done very well, several times in this mailing list by 
Chris/Jon, in the SVG specification, and other places) or to benchmark it. (I have 
removed all explicit links to corresponding GIFs that were there for downloading 
purposes to avoid any possible confusion.)
Regarding the issue of SVG file size, for instance, the SVG files in the "Data 
Visualization" section (which are not toy examples) result in a reduction of 1/10 or 
better when zipped. As Paton has pointed out, there are various (other) ways of 
reducing the file size further.
In conclusion, sweeping statements and generalizations about SVG will only lead to 
over/underexpectations setting people off to a wild goose chase, or discourage them 
from using it. Examples of such statements are: SVG is a revolution, SVG is here to 
replace all other graphic standards, SVG is the best format for all graphics work, SVG 
files are always smaller, always accessible, and so on. The issue of 
advantages/limitations of any mechanism is always relative, context-based, subject to 
appropriate deployment, and should be weighed against one's own priorities.

Pankaj Kamthan

Received on Thursday, 21 October 1999 07:02:46 UTC