Hi, Domenico- While you know I respect you, your work, and your opinions, I have to say that I must respectfully disagree with you here.
Do things render quickly and perfectly in FF? Is FF feature-complete as regards SVG graphical elements or DOM methods? Is there support for 2 of my favorite features, SMIL and SVG Fonts? Sadly, no. However, does it help spread SVG? Emphatically, yes. Over the past few months, I've tried to clean up a lot of my content so that it renders as well as possible in FF. I've gotten many of my WebApps to behave tolerably well (though others are a lost cause). It is far from my ideal platform. But a *lot* of content will render just fine. Let's face it, just browsing legacy SVG, you are bound to stumble on a lot of mistakes that Adobe should never have rendered. In this way, alone, I see value in Firefox... it will make authors and authoring tools create real, valid XML, which will aid the transition to Compound Documents. This is where I think SVG will find a whole new audience, with SVG as just a part of a larger mixed-namespace context. But let's not talk about technicalities like that, of interest only to standards wonks. Let's talk real-world cases. There is a whole new generation of SVG authors that neither know nor care about SVG scripting or animation. They are using Inkscape to make static SVG, which many argue should be the primary use case for a Web-oriented vector graphics language (obviously, I'm not one of those, but it is a valid argument). SVG as simply graphics in a Web page really does work right out of the box on FF... no need for a plugin that your workplace might not allow. Inline SVG works in FF. Now those HTML+SVG apps that only worked in IE+ASV before, using HTML input widgets, can work across the 2 major browsers (see Jonathan's example for how to do this)! Many simple WebApps now have the bar lowered for newbies who don't want to or can't make an SVG dropdown; this will result in a net gain of casual SVG users. Basically, FF with SVG makes SVG simply more *common*. And since it will improve with time, soon (a year or so, perhaps) it will be a perfectly acceptable platform for more advanced WebApps, too. Moreover, SVG in FF and Opera (neither perfect) raises the bar for other browsers (IE, maybe?) to start adhering to open Web standards, and will increase the demand for SVG. Maybe just a little at first, but it will grow. Heck, it might even have the affect of raising awareness about SVG such that more people will download the Adobe viewer. For these reasons, I think it was worthwhile for FF to release with the limited support for SVG. It is only a step back for those of us used to a near-complete specification. It is a major step forward for those who will discover SVG because of Firefox. And ultimately, that will help us all. You are dead right that it will hurt the previous works of SVG authors, but only until FF is improved. This will be a new ramp-up period for SVG, in some ways starting over. And I contend that with a more common SVG viewer, new, well-rendering content will quickly outnumber older content, and people will not be so quick to dismiss SVG once there is more good content out there. Remember, without a plugin, your excellent work, and that of other creators, does not render at all... in SVG, it shows that there is at least something there. And while the public is starting to get used to this "new" thing called SVG, we can all be creating new content that works well, and counting on FF to improve. p.s. Don't confuse Jonathan's politeness for insincerity. He's a stand-up fellow, and deserves a good deal of recognition and consideration for all he's done. Optimistically- Doug [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.vectoreal.com ...for scalable solutions. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> AIDS in India: A "lurking bomb." Click and help stop AIDS now. http://us.click.yahoo.com/9QUssC/lzNLAA/TtwFAA/1U_rlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ----- To unsubscribe send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -or- visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/svg-developers and click "edit my membership" ---- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/svg-developers/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
