SVG Working Group

The SVG Working Group is a working group created by the W3C to address the need for an alternative to the PostScript document format. The PostScript format was unable to create scalable fonts and objects without creating files which were inordinately larger than a file which used unscalable fonts and objects.

In April 1998, the W3C received a note from representatives of four corporate entities, including Adobe, IBM, Netscape and Sun Microsystems. with regards to the Precision Graphics Markup Language, or PGML — an XML-based markup language.

A second message came a month later, from a team which included representatives of Hewlett Packard, Macromedia, Microsoft, and Visio; the note discussed the use of VML, an XML-based Vector Markup Language.

As a result of both missives, the W3C convened a working group, and within six months, the group published a working draft of requirements for the Scalable Vector Graphics (or SVG) format. This language, unlike the one used by Postscript, is optimized for Web use. It is able to describe two-dimensional graphics and graphical applications via XML.

Members

Members of the SVG Working Group include representatives from the following organizations:

* Adobe Systems Inc.
* Open Text "(BitFlash Division)"
* Canon, Inc.
* ERCIM
* Ericsson
* Expway
* France Telecom
* Groupe des Ecoles de Télécommunications
* Ikivo AB
* ILOG
* ITEDO Software GmbH
* KDDI Corporation
* Keio University
* Nokia
* Research In Motion, Ltd. (RIM)
* Sharp Corporation
* Sun Microsystems Inc.

W3C has also invited several experts to collaborate with the working group.

External links

* [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/ Official site]
* [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/SVGcharter2.html SVG Charter]
* [http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Roadmap.html SVG Roadmap]
* [http://www.irt.org/articles/js176/ SVG Brings Fast Vector Graphics to Web]