Re: agenda+ SVG 2 Features and Approach

Hi, Charles-

Charles Pritchard wrote (on 5/8/11 4:50 PM):
> On 5/8/2011 1:09 PM, Doug Schepers wrote:
>>
>> I believe that the next 2 years are going to be a make-or-break period
>> for SVG. It's never been easier to use SVG on the open Web, now that
>> all the major browsers support it (though, as with HTML, there are
>> quirks between implementations). There is a lot of increased use and
>> interest in SVG, but we still aren't seeing dramatic widespread use of
>> SVG.
>
> I disagree, that this is a make-or-break period. SVG has already made it.
>
> Over the next two years, we will, finally, see more web apps using SVG.
> That's going to happen.
[...]
> In response to your gloomy gloomy message: I respectfully disagree.
> SVG continues to benefit from Canvas, 3d and CSS APIs; it benefits
> from greater integration with the larger engineering ecosystem.

Sorry, I didn't mean that to sound pessimistic.  I absolutely agree that 
SVG is increasingly going to be part of the developer and designer 
toolkit.  I also agree with the sentiment that the power of SVG is 
amplified when used with other parts of the open Web platform, and I 
think we've made (and will continue to make) great progress in working 
more closely with the CSS folks (and the innovative browser 
implementers) to make that a reality.

But I have heard repeatedly from different browser vendors that until we 
start seeing even more use of SVG by content creators, they are unlikely 
to prioritize improving SVG support; we still have performance problems, 
and we still haven't seen SVG in Chrome on Android.  It's a Catch-22.

Obviously, they won't remove SVG support, and they will even improve it 
over time; that's a given.  But if we can ensure that we have improved 
interoperability, stability, performance, and compelling features that 
are easy to use, we can inspire even more people to use SVG, and get 
even more priority from browser vendors to improve it.  (I'm honestly 
not picking on browser vendors... they have to make a cost-benefit 
analysis that helps their product.)

Why two years?  I could share my speculations about the market with you, 
but suffice it to say that that's a good timeframe for 1 or 2 standard 
browser release cycles, and I'd like to see new SVG features in browsers 
by then.  From most people's perspective, SVG hasn't really changed in a 
decade, and I'd like then to see the cool new stuff we have planned, 
sooner rather than later.

So, I'm over-eager, not pessimistic. :)

Regards-
-Doug

Received on Monday, 9 May 2011 05:48:37 UTC