Grid In 1.2?

Hi-

There has been much talk in the comunity about the need for some sort of
table or grid layout mechanism in SVG. FlowText is great, and I think that
allowing images in it will be a fascinating feature, but I don't think that
it alone will satisfy most authors' needs for a relative layout system.

Having had direct experience with using more than one SVG/script-only layout
manager, I can say that they were cumbersome and tricky to work with,
despite talented authors best attempts. I don't believe that RCC/sXBL will
help much, either, since it's still only scripted, and will have the same
responsiveness and speed issues. I tried created a basic table layout in
RCC/ASV6pr1, and while the deal-breaker problems I encountered may have been
due to the incomplete implementation status of RCC, I have little confidence
that it would be easy to author or reuse such components. 

I am not calling for an extensive widget system, which has far too many
variables to deal with, and which I believe to be outside the scope of the
SVG Spec. But having the basic functionality for grid layout is not only
appropriate, IMO, but would increase adoption of SVG through ease of
authoring. Perhaps it could be designed in such a way as to be extended 

I've had conversations with several people about this issue, and we have
some fairly simple proposals for mechanisms. The most basic uses syntax much
like HTML tables, and even something like that, familiar to many authors,
would suffice for now. Other people suggested the Grid Bag Layout of Java.
If you are interested in further thoughts or alternate mechanisms, please
let me know. 

I know that it is late in the game for this to be included in SVG1.2, but I
feel like it is a very serious issue that should be addressed.

Regards-
-Doug

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Received on Monday, 5 July 2004 04:20:22 UTC