Re: [css3 color] ICC profile reference

On Monday, January 29, 2007, 11:18:09 PM, Melinda wrote:

GM> Any reason why the CSS3 Color Module
GM> http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-color/ should  reference the ICC Profile
GM> Format Specification, version 3.2. 1995  rather than the latest
GM> version, version 4.2 at http://www.color.org/ICC1v42_2006-05.pdf?

No (just history - I think the reference got copied from PNG to SVG
1.0 to SVG 1.1 to CSS3 color, and was the current reference originally)

Version 4.2, released in 2004 is the current deployed version and is
also the version that became an International Standard,
ISO 15076-1:2005:
http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=40317&ICS1=37&ICS2=100&ICS3=99
(link is to an order form to buy a printed or PDF copy, not to the
spec itself)

GM> Or would it be preferable to refer to an undated current  version?

If ICC has a versioning policy such that that would be backwards
compatible. I understand that older CMS can't read v.4 ICC profiles
but can read v.2 and v.3 ICC profiles; new ones read all the current
versions.

I also understand that CMS are usually shipped with the OS (on Mac
(ColorSync), Windows (ICM), Linux (lCMS) or installed with particular
applications (eg the Kodak or Adobe CMSs) so a given machine is likely
in practice to be upgraded when a new product (eg Photoshop, MS
Office) is installed or, for consumer machines, when they buy a new
machine.

I say "I understand" because the available documentation tends to be
consumer oriented and lacking in details.

Microsoft ICM 2.0
http://www.microsoft.atat.at/presspass/press/1997/apr97/linopr.mspx
http://www.nikondigital.org/news/ms_color_cpl/readme.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/colorcontrol.mspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/icm/icm_9y9e.asp
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/icm/icm_3q5p.asp

much of the Microsoft documentation has old dates, like 2001. I would
be glad of pointers to more recent and more technically detailed
documentation.

Apple ColorSync 2.0
(this paper, last revised 2005 says that ColorSync "will be" fully ICC v4
compliant)
http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn2035.html
(1999 paper on ColorSync 2.6, which should cover all legacy Mac
systems still running)
http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1160.html
(ColorSync 3.0 paper, from 199 also - no mention of icc however)
http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1185.html
(ColorSync on Mac OS X - 2005 - clearly states that it works with ICC v4 and
earlier profiles)
http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn2035.html

Linux lcms clearly states that it supports 4.2
http://www.littlecms.com/about.htm


The CMS in Windows Vista is supposed to be a big improvement.

In general (to get back to your question) it seems to be the right
thing to update to the current version, it may be ok to go for "this
version or higher" and I would prefer to have more hard facts to go
on. I have a couple of enquiries going and will report back.  At this
point I am mainly concerned with when Microsoft ICM 2.0 was updated
and to check what version of ICC profiles is supported in the version
that ships today (XP SP2).


-- 
 Chris Lilley                    mailto:chris@w3.org
 Interaction Domain Leader
 Co-Chair, W3C SVG Working Group
 W3C Graphics Activity Lead
 Co-Chair, W3C Hypertext CG

Received on Tuesday, 30 January 2007 13:41:25 UTC