Re: <link> and <param> in SVG (SVG ACTION-2534)

On Fri, 01 May 2009 03:18:44 -0400
Doug Schepers <schepers@w3.org> wrote:

> Hi, HTML WG-
> 
> Like the HTML WG, the SVG WG is interested in a certain consistency 
> between SVG and HTML, to make authoring and implementing easier and
> more intuitive.  To that end, we're looking for opinions on adding a
> couple of features to SVG matching some in HTML that most authors
> would already be familiar with, and we are soliciting opinions about
> the best approach.
> 
> We want to make it easier to link to external CSS resources, and to
> pass parameters to referenced resources.  

That would be great.

> Through an oversight, the only specified way to link to an external
> CSS stylesheet is through an XML PI.  While this works okay, it's not
> the best way to do it, and is different than the way HTML does it.
> We're looking at a couple of options:
> 
> 1) we add @xlink:href to <svg:style>
> 2) we add a new element, like <link>, to SVG (I've already shown that 
> this sometimes works when the <link> is in the XHTML NS [1], but that 
> isn't specified anywhere, and isn't intuitive)  

At a glance, I prefer 1. It seems more obvious to use the <svg:style>
element when talking about stylesheets, instead of digging through the
<link> attributes trying to see if this is a stylesheet reference.

> Regarding passing parameters, SVG has never had a mechanism for this. 
> We would like to add one.  Again, we can either create a new element,
> or we could repurpose the <param> element from the HTML <object>, for
> use in SVG.
> 
> 
> Our preference is to reuse those element names, because authors are 
> familiar with them, but to put them in the SVG NS, for use in
> standalone SVG documents (and in SVG-only UAs).  We realize that this
> may have the potential to cause problems for some compound-document
> parsing scenarios, so we decided to put the question to the HTML WG,
> to see if there are substantive technical challenges to this
> approach.  

I would definitely like to see the <param> feature implemented. I would
expect that it would not cause problems for compound documents that
respect namespaces, but the HTML case is still a potential for fun.

I would like to hear if any of the browser teams think it would be a
problem for them.

My bias toward programming access to SVG probably shows in my
answers.<grin/>

G. Wade
-- 
Virtual is when it's not but it looks like it is and transparent is
when it is but it looks like it isn't.                 -- Rick Hoselton

Received on Friday, 1 May 2009 23:07:03 UTC