Re: SVG 1.2 Comment: 4 Flowing text and graphics

Ian Hickson:
> Why don't authoring tools automatically perform multiline flow over 
> multiple <text> elements, then? This wouldn't require any additions to 
> SVG, it would be purely an authoring-time problem. This would free up 
> rendering user agents from having to do any line breaking work, and would 
> allow authoring tools to compete on the quality of their flowing text 
> implementations.

Because in cases where the layout needs to change, at display time,
relaying out the the flowing text may be necessary.  Say you had map
viewing application where a resizeable pane to the side displayed
information on the town which you have just clicked on.  If the pane is
resized, and the text has been positioned absolutely, script will have
to be written to reflow the text.  It would be far simpler (and probably
achievable just using declarative SMIL) if this used flow text to define
the region in which the text would be layed out.

Even for static, non-interactive documents, there is no guarantee
(unless you embed fonts or use the requiredFonts attribute) that the
font chosen will have the same metrics as those used in the authoring
program.

Cameron

-- 
Cameron McCormack
|  Web: http://mcc.id.au/
|  ICQ: 26955922

Received on Thursday, 4 November 2004 07:01:45 UTC