Scalable Vector Graphics
By Molly E. Holzschlag
The blending of technology and art has always turned me on. I think that's why the Web originally seduced me, and why I've stuck around so long. Many Web designers and developers share this attraction. The two sides of our brains can have an affair, and that makes for a fun and rarely boring relationship.
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is a perfect example of technology and design meeting on a level playing field. Via XML markup, you can create and implement graphic images, animations, and interactive graphic designs for Web viewing. Of course, browsers must support SVG technology, which is one reason that many developers haven't looked into it too seriously, or perhaps haven't heard of it.
SVG is being developed under the auspices of the W3C. As a result, developers have worked to make it compatible with other standards including XML, XSLT, CSS2, Document Object Model (DOM), SMIL, HTML 4.0, XHTML 1.0, and sufficient accessibility options via the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).
As of this writing, SVG's status is Candidate Recommendation. The working group responsible for SVG has declared it stable, and if it passes several more tests, it moves into the Recommendation phase.
SVG Concepts
Perhaps the most important concept to grasp when first studying SVG is its scalability. Graphics aren't limited by fixed pixels. Like vector graphics, you can make scalable graphics larger or smaller without distorting them. This is very important for designing across resolutions.
