RE: Lingua Franca of the Web - Will SVG replace HTML?

> From:	Sean B. Palmer [SMTP:sean@mysterylights.com]
> 
> By all means, use SVG in XHTML: Amaya does this now, but as for replacing
> XHTML with SVG... I don't see how that would even be possible. Telling
> people to use SVG in that way would be beyond the scope of SVG as a
> format,
> and I certainly do not think this is a line the W3C would want to take up
> with their data formats. It doesn't make architectural sense. The future
> lies in Semantics, not pretty pictures :-)
	[DJW:]  
	I'm afraid that upwards of 95% of the decision makers on
	the design of public web sites have no interest in 
	the machine readable document representing the semantics.

	Other than the vagaries of mass psychology, I think the
	only thing that will stop SVG becoming the language of 
	choice for web pages will be commercial factors such 
	as the inclusion of correct and complete implementations
	in popular browsers - these are the sort of things that
	have prevented CSS, and therefore HTML 4 strict, standing
	a chance.  (Accessibility legislation might act against
	it as well, but there is little sign of real impact yet.)

	Things that might affect the mass psychology are the 
	degree of investment in Big 2 "HTML" hacks and the need to
	mix in other namespaces to do reflowed paragraphs and 
	forms.

	My estimation is that those who care about semantics are
	limited to companies that were using SGML and free text 
	engines before the birth of the web, and some technical
	people working for decision makers who only want visual
	effects.

	It is the writers of popular "cookbooks" who will determine
	what is used, much more than W3C.


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Received on Monday, 22 January 2001 14:35:19 UTC