*PROPOSED* Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Working Group Charter
The mission of the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Working Group is to continue the evolution of Scalable Vector Graphics as a format and a platform, and enhance the adoption and usability of SVG in combination with other technologies.
The exclusive goal for this charter period is to drive the SVG 2 specification and SVG-Accessibility Task Force specifications to completion as W3C Recommendations.
| Start date | (date of the "Call for Participation", when the charter is approved) |
|---|---|
| End date | 01 November 2017 |
| Charter extension | See Change History. |
| Chairs | TBD |
| Team Contacts | TBD (0.3 FTE) |
| Meeting Schedule |
Teleconferences: 1-hour calls will be held on an as needed basis
Face-to-face: we will meet during the W3C's annual Technical Plenary week; additional face-to-face meetings may be scheduled by consent of the participants, usually no more than 3 per year. |
Scope
The goal of this charter period is to complete the SVG 2 specification as a W3C Recommendation. To accomplish this goal, the group will create a test suite, generate an implementation report which confirms multiple interoperable implementations of each feature of the specification, and remove all features from the stable specification which do not have adequate implementation. Features removed from the specification, and new proposed features, may be published as Working Group Notes or incubated further in a Community Group or other appropriate venue.
The SVG WG develops the core SVG language and related modules, consisting of:
- Markup syntaxes, compatible with XML and HTML5 parsing, for describing shapes, text, and painting effects, including gradients, filters, and other graphical effects, through a set of elements and attributes. This includes semantics for navigation and interactivity.
- An API, compatible with DOM (Document Object Model), for using script to view, add, remove, or change the elements and attributes of the DOM tree, to handle interactivity and animation, and to provide special functionality, through a set of events and methods.
- A set of styling characteristics, expressible as presentation attributes or CSS properties, for defining the appearance and behavior of graphical elements.
Scalable Vector Graphics has matured into a widely-implemented specification for interactive graphics, used in viewers, authoring tools, and in other standards. The SVG Working Group builds upon this solid foundation by adding new graphical and behavioral features to make it even easier for content creators to make compelling and effective graphical content, interactive data visualization, and web applications.
The SVG WG collaborates with the CSS WG for shared features, and with the ARIA WG in the SVG Accessibility Task Force for making graphics and data visualizations accessible to users of Accessibility Technology. Joint deliverables with these groups are denoted in the Deliverables section.
The 2016 charter revision removes several specifications from the scope of the SVG WG, and does not add any deliverables to the scope, though it does note the expansion of the SVG accessibility API mappings deliverable to three separate documents for organizational purposes. For details, see the list of charter differences. In addition, discussion and coordination for a future Level of Detail specification will continue.
This group develops specifications which are backwards-compatible and which reflect the current state of interoperability between existing implementations, for ease of SVG authoring. Some new functionality may be defined in module specifications to promote quick review and implementation.
Success Criteria
In order to advance to Proposed Recommendation, each specification is expected to have at least two independent implementations of each of feature defined in the specification.
Each specification should contain a section detailing any known security or privacy implications for implementers, Web authors, and end users.
Each specification should contain a section describing known impacts on accessibility to users with disabilities, ways the specification features address them, and recommendations for minimizing accessibility problems in implementation.
Deliverables
More detailed milestones and updated publication schedules are available on the group publication status page.
Draft state indicates the state of the deliverable at the time of the charter approval. Expected completion indicates when the deliverable is projected to become a Recommendation, or otherwise reach a stable state.
Normative Specifications
The Working Group will deliver the following W3C normative specifications:
- Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 2
-
This specification defines the core SVG language.
Draft state: Candidate Recommendation
Expected completion: Q3 2017
- SVG Accessibility API Mappings
-
This specification defines the mapping between SVG features and OS platform accessibility application programming interfaces.
Draft state: Working Draft
Expected completion: Q4 2017
Joint Deliverable with: ARIA WG
- Graphics Accessibility API Mappings
-
This specification defines the mapping between the WAI-ARIA Graphics Module and OS platform accessibility application programming interfaces.
Draft state: Working Draft
Expected completion: Q4 2017
Joint Deliverable with: ARIA WG
- WAI-ARIA Graphics Module
-
This specification defines semantic roles specific to web graphics for use with WAI-ARIA.
Draft state: Working Draft
Expected completion: Q4 2017
Joint Deliverable with: ARIA WG
Other Deliverables
The Working Group will deliver the following informative specifications:
-
This specification defines informative best practices and authoring tips for using SVG, including accessibility guidance and new SVG 2 features.
Draft state: Editor's Draft
Other non-normative documents may be created such as:
- Use case and requirement documents;
- Test suite and implementation report for the specification;
- Primer or Best Practice documents to support web developers when designing applications.
Coordination
For all specifications, this Working Group will seek horizontal review for accessibility, internationalization, performance, privacy, and security with the relevant Working and Interest Groups, and with the TAG. Invitation for review must be issued during each major standards-track document transition, including FPWD and CR, and should be issued when major changes occur in a specification.
Additional technical coordination with the following Groups will be made, per the W3C Process Document:
W3C Groups
- Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) Working Group
- Coordinate on shared deliverables in the SVG-Accessibility Task Force.
- Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group
- Coordinate on integration of SVG features and properties into CSS.
- Web Platform Working Group
- Coordinate on integration of SVG and HTML, and on compatibility with the Canvas API specifications.
External Organizations
Participation
To be successful, this Working Group is expected to have 5 or more active participants for its duration, including representatives from the key implementors of this specification, and active Editors and Test Leads for each specification. The Chairs, specification Editors, and Test Leads are expected to contribute half of a day per week towards the Working Group. There is no minimum requirement for other Participants.
The group encourages questions, comments and issues on its public mailing lists and document repositories, as described in Communication.
The group also welcomes non-Members to contribute technical submissions for consideration upon their agreement to the terms of the W3C Patent Policy.
Communication
Technical discussions for this Working Group are conducted in public: the meeting minutes from teleconference and face-to-face meetings will be archived for public review, and technical discussions and issue tracking will be conducted in a manner that can be both read and written to by the general public. Working Drafts and Editor's Drafts of specifications will be developed on a public repository, and may permit direct public contribution requests. The meetings themselves are not open to public participation, however.
Information about the group (including details about deliverables, issues, actions, status, participants, and meetings) will be available from the SVG Working Group home page.
Most SVG Working Group teleconferences will focus on discussion of particular specifications, and will be conducted on an as-needed basis.
This group primarily conducts its technical work on the public mailing list www-svg@w3.org (archive) and on GitHub issues. The public is invited to review, discuss and contribute to this work.
The group may use a Member-confidential mailing list for administrative purposes and, at the discretion of the Chairs and members of the group, for member-only discussions in special cases when a participant requests such a discussion.
Decision Policy
This group will seek to make decisions through consensus and due process, per the W3C Process Document (section 3.3). Typically, an editor or other participant makes an initial proposal, which is then refined in discussion with members of the group and other reviewers, and consensus emerges with little formal voting being required.
However, if a decision is necessary for timely progress, but consensus is not achieved after careful consideration of the range of views presented, the Chairs may call for a group vote, and record a decision along with any objections.
To afford asynchronous decisions and organizational deliberation, any resolution (including publication decisions) taken in a face-to-face meeting or teleconference will be considered provisional. All resolutions will be in announced in the meeting minutes or an email or survey call for consensus (CfC), with a response period from one week to 10 working days, depending on the chair's evaluation of the group consensus on the issue. If no objections are raised on the mailing list by the end of the response period, the resolution will be considered to have consensus as a resolution of the Working Group.
All decisions made by the group should be considered resolved unless and until new information becomes available, or unless reopened at the discretion of the Chairs or the Director.
This charter is written in accordance with the W3C Process Document (Section 3.4, Votes), and includes no voting procedures beyond what the Process Document requires.
Patent Policy
This Working Group operates under the W3C Patent Policy (5 February 2004 Version). To promote the widest adoption of Web standards, W3C seeks to issue Recommendations that can be implemented, according to this policy, on a Royalty-Free basis. For more information about disclosure obligations for this group, please see the W3C Patent Policy Implementation.
Patent Disclosures
The Interest Group provides an opportunity to share perspectives on the topic addressed by this charter. W3C reminds Interest Group participants of their obligation to comply with patent disclosure obligations as set out in Section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy. While the Interest Group does not produce Recommendation-track documents, when Interest Group participants review Recommendation-track specifications from Working Groups, the patent disclosure obligations do apply. For more information about disclosure obligations for this group, please see the W3C Patent Policy Implementation.
Licensing
This Working Group will use the W3C Software and Document license for all its deliverables.
About this Charter
This charter has been created according to section 5.2 of the Process Document. In the event of a conflict between this document or the provisions of any charter and the W3C Process, the W3C Process shall take precedence.
Charter History
The following table lists details of all changes from the initial charter, per the W3C Process Document (section 5.2.3):
| Charter Period | Start Date | End Date | Changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Charter | 01 September 1998 | 01 September 2000 | none |
| Charter Extension | 01 September 2000 | 31 May 2001 | none |
| Rechartered | 01 June 2001 | 01 June 2003 |
Added SVG Mobile and SVG 2.0. |
| Rechartered | 30 September 2003 | 30 June 2004 |
Added SVG 1.2, SVG Print; deferred SVG 2.0. |
| Rechartered | 30 September 2004 | 30 September 2006 |
Added SVG 1.2 Full, SVG 1.2 Tiny, SVG 1.2 Print, sXBL; took ownership of existing DOM 3 Events and DOM 3 XPath specifications. |
| Charter Extension | 30 September 2006 | 30 April 2008 | none |
| Rechartered | 30 April 2008 | 30 April 2010 |
Changed WG confidentiality from Member-Only to Public. Changed co-chairs to Erik Dahlström (Opera Software ASA) and Andrew Emmons (W3C Invited Experts). Changed team contact to Doug Schepers. Added SVG 1.1 2nd Edition, SVG Tiny 1.2, SVG 1.2 Full Modular specifications; added SVG Print, SVG Filters, Paint Servers, SVG Masking and Clipping, SVG Vector Effects, SVG Compositing, SVG Layout, SVG WebFonts, Media Access Events module specifications. |
| Charter Extension | 30 April 2010 | 31 March 2012 | none |
| Rechartered | 31 March 2012 | 31 March 2014 |
Changed co-chairs to Erik Dahlström (Opera) and Cameron McCormack (Mozilla). Changed team contact to Chris Lilley and Doug Schepers. Added SVG 2, SVG Parameters, SVG Integration, Color Management, Tiling and Layering, Vector Effects, SVG Accessibility, Graphics API, SVG Connectors, Layout, SVG Glyphs for OpenType Fonts, Pagination and Slides, Media Access Events. Formed FX Task Force with CSS WG, with the following deliverables: CSS Animations; CSS Transforms; Filter Effects; Masking and Clipping; Compositing; CSS Transitions. Added joint publication with I18n Core, CSS, and XSL WGs: Requirements for Japanese Text Layout. |
| Rechartered | 20 October 2014 | 31 January 2017 |
Added joint deliverables with the CSS WG in the FX Task Force: Motion Path; Zoom Media. Added joint deliverables with the WAI PF WG in the SVG Accessibility Task Force: SVG2 accessibility API mapping; SVG2 accessible authoring guidelines. Added joint deliverables with the Web Performance Working Group: Lazyload for tiling and level of detail; Resource Hints. |
| Rechartered | TBD | 01 November 2017 |
Changed Chair and Team Contact to TBD. Updated deliverable timelines. Clarified specific deliverables with the WAI PF WG in the SVG Accessibility Task Force: SVG Accessibility API Mappings; Graphics Accessibility API Mappings; and WAI-ARIA Graphics Module. Dropped the following deliverables: Zoom media feature for level of detail; Lazyload for tiling and level of detail; Resource Hints; SVG Integration; SVG Streaming; SVG Parameters; SVG Connectors; SVG Paths; SVG Strokes; SVG Markers. Closed FX Task Force, and deferred control of these joint deliverables to the CSS WG: Animation Elements; Compositing and Blending; CSS Animations; CSS Masking; CSS Transforms; CSS Transitions; Filter Effects; Geometry Interfaces Module; Motion Path; Web Animations. |