Re: Status of SVG params

Hi, Andreas-

Sorry for the tardy reply.

Andreas Neumann wrote (on 6/30/11 9:26 AM):
>
> I would like to ask what the status of the SVG params proposal is. In
> mapping we have the problem that the same symbols or patterns should be
> made "adjustable" for overriding of fill/stroke/stroke-width etc. Up to
> now we had to redefine the symbols over and over whenever we needed the
> slightest change.

Thanks for your interest in this.  The SVG WG has gone back and forth on 
it, trying to decide if we want to make a general solution that could be 
used in CSS as well, but we recently resolved [1] that, since there are 
probably many disparate use cases for things like params, and different 
solutions (like CSS Variables and other proposals), we will confine 
ourselves to solving the case specifically for SVG (and simply keep the 
CSS WG in the loop).

We will be working with the CSS WG to make sure that params and 
variables work well together.

I'd appreciate comments on the latest version of the spec [2] and primer 
[3].



> The Open Source Desktop-GIS I am using (and helping to evolve), uses SVG
> for point symbols and patterns. I proposed to use the same syntax like
> the SVG param proposal
> (http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/WD-SVGParamPrimer-20090616/). See also this
> blog entry from the company developing this feature in QGIS:
> http://www.sourcepole.ch/svg-symbols-in-qgis-with-modifiable-colors

Great to hear.

I have reservations about the current syntax myself (and I'm the one who 
came up with it), but we'll be working to solidify it very soon.


> Any chances that this proposal will make it to a WD and a Recommendation
> in a reasonable timeframe?

I hope so.  Once the syntax is stabilized, I think we could probably get 
to LC and CR within a few months, and once we have a test suite, and 2 
passing implementations, Rec is only months after that.  I would like to 
think that we could be done by Q1-Q2 2012, depending on implementation 
schedules.


>Is there interest of the browser projects to
> implement it? I think that content creators would gain a lot of
> productivity if this feature would be implemented.

Yes, there's been some interest, and Adobe even shipped an experimental 
"HTML5 patch" that included it, but I don't know that any of the browser 
vendors have it prioritized.  But Robert O'Callahan of Mozilla did give 
some useful feedback recently [4].


> Also, we would be interested in implementing this feature in QGIS in a
> compatible way.

Good to know.  I look forward to your feedback.


[1] http://www.w3.org/2011/06/23-svg-minutes.html
[2] http://dev.w3.org/SVG/modules/param/master/SVGParam.html
[3] http://dev.w3.org/SVG/modules/param/master/SVGParamPrimer.html
[4] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-svg/2011Mar/0001.html

Regards-
-Doug Schepers
W3C Staff Contact, SVG, WebApps, Web Events, and Audio WGs

Received on Monday, 18 July 2011 05:20:39 UTC