SVG-in-OpenType support enabled in Firefox nightly builds

Now that we have a unified spec for the 'SVG ' table as posted by 
Sairus,[1] and Mozilla's implementation has been updated to match 
this[2] (without color-palette support as yet), we're proposing to 
enable the feature by default in Firefox builds.

This will make it easier for people to begin experimenting with the 
implementation, and even creating and deploying fonts that make use of 
SVG glyph technology. (E.g., emoji example at [3], and animated-glyph 
example [4].)

In bug 915019,[4] we have just flipped the preference setting so that 
SVG glyphs are enabled by default in Nightly builds[5] of Firefox 26; 
this feature will propagate to the Aurora channel[6] this week. It will 
then move to the Beta and Release channels after further 6-week 
intervals, unless we decide to hold back on releasing the feature more 
widely.

While we have been reluctant to ship support for a not-yet-standardized 
feature in release builds, this seems to be the accepted practice among 
other vendors developing "color font" solutions. At this time, then, 
we'd be interested in feedback from the community as to whether it is 
appropriate for Mozilla to ship SVG-in-OT support in a released product 
prior to standardization of the format (regarding it as a "private 
table" for the time being, even though the intention is to submit it for 
standardization). The alternative is to keep it disabled in release 
builds, pending progress towards standardization, but this of course 
severely limits the opportunities for people to test and experiment with 
the new technology.

As well as any comments on the appropriate process and timing for 
shipping this feature, we would of course welcome bug reports or other 
feedback on the implementation itself, and interesting, fun (or even 
frivolous) demonstrations of how this technology can be used to enrich 
users' experiences on the web.

JK

[1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-svgopentype/2013Jul/0003.html
[2] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=906521
[3] http://people.mozilla.org/~jkew/opentype-svg/GeckoEmoji.html
[4] http://people.mozilla.org/~jkew/opentype-svg/soccer.html
[5] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=915019
[6] http://nightly.mozilla.org/
[7] http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/aurora/

Received on Sunday, 15 September 2013 15:20:06 UTC