W3C Endorses SVG

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) today recommended Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 and Mobile SVG profiles be anointed standards.

Vector Graphics (VG) are how Adobe PostScript and Macromedia Flash work, although those two companies each uses a proprietary version of that technology. By contrast, SVG is an XML-based ‘Open Standard’ file format that does basically the same things but also scales images to fit the size and resolution of the user’s display screen.

SVG’s real benefit will be as a universal standard to provide rich graphics to looming Third Wave of Online Journalism: publications published to wireless devices and mobile pocket PCs. The graphics will also be readily usable on wired PCs.