- From: Chris Lilley <chris@w3.org>
- Date: Tue, 2 Nov 2004 19:21:47 +0100
- To: Dean Jackson <dean@w3.org>
- Cc: "Robert O'Callahan" <robert@ocallahan.org>, www-svg@w3.org
On Tuesday, November 2, 2004, 5:50:10 PM, Dean wrote: DJ> On 3 Nov 2004, at 02:42, Robert O'Callahan wrote: >> >> I have a couple of additional questions for the SVG WG: >> >> -- When users ask for additional flowing text features, such as floats >> and tables, will you add them to SVG 1.3? DJ> Let me separate the question a little. DJ> We discussed adding additional text features (for SVG 1.2 and DJ> future). We rejected them all in favour of using XHTML for such things DJ> (eg. lists). As SVG layout is not at all like CSS layout, floats are DJ> way out of scope. DJ> Then you mentioned tables. There have been many requests for DJ> grid-based layout mechanisms in SVG (for graphics and text). It *may* DJ> be considered for a future version of SVG. However, IMO the primary use DJ> case would be laying out things like UIs (eg. toolbars), not really DJ> text (although it could be used that way). In preliminary discussion DJ> of this topic the most common suggestion has been to simply allow DJ> <html:table> in SVG. Adobe's most recent SVG release does this DJ> (within a <foreignObject>). >> >> -- You say that SVG text is presentational and not semantic, but then >> why does flowPara exist? DJ> I don't think it should. I'll be arguing that it should be removed. Or alternatively, that the definition of a para is presentational. Which it is, as in languages like HTML which sit somewhere in the middle of the continuum from abstraction to concreteness. Table, by the way, especially table which has in the markup spanned rows and columns, is fairly towards the concrete layout end as well. A higher level, more abstract markup might represent that as multidimensional data with various properties, some of which could be grouped and aggregated to make a 2d table, as one possible presentational for. A pie chart or histogram could be other presentational forms. DJ> The other slightly semantic element is <flowLine>. The problem here DJ> is that Ian's suggested alternative used CSS, which isn't required DJ> in any SVG implementation. Any ideas? It breaks a line. That is its defined effect, again largely presentational. -- Chris Lilley mailto:chris@w3.org Chair, W3C SVG Working Group Member, W3C Technical Architecture Group
Received on Tuesday, 2 November 2004 18:21:53 UTC