ISSUE-2350: Specify that unknown elements are treated as <g> elements for the purpose of rendering

unknown element fallback

Specify that unknown elements are treated as <g> elements for the purpose of rendering

State:
RAISED
Product:
SVG 2
Raised by:
Doug Schepers
Opened on:
2010-07-08
Description:
SVG 1.1 says, in http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/REC-SVG11-20030114/extend.html :
[[
23.1 Foreign namespaces and private data

SVG allows inclusion of elements from foreign namespaces anywhere with the SVG content. In general, the SVG user agent will include the unknown elements in the DOM but will otherwise ignore unknown elements. (The notable exception is described under Embedding Foreign Object Types.)
]]

I think we should be more precise about this, and say that unknown elements are treated as <g> elements for the purpose of structure, rendering, and inheritance, and that their child elements still render. This is an SVG extensibility point for new SVG elements (as well as other namespaced content), and would allow authors to define fallback content for the new element, per spec.

For example, if we add a connector element, authors could also specify a simple path as a child, so that older UAs would still have something to render, even if it isn't as functional as the connector element.


<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
width="100%" height="100%" viewBox="0 0 400 400">

<title>Unknown Element Test</title>

<circle id="circle_1" cx="75" cy="25" r="20" fill="orange" stroke="red" />

<g id="group_1" stroke="red">
<circle id="circle_2" cx="175" cy="25" r="20" fill="orange" />
</g>

<foo id="foo_1" stroke="red">
<circle id="circle_3" cx="275" cy="25" r="20" fill="orange" />
</foo>

<rect id="rect_1" x="355" y="5" width="40" height="40" fill="orange" stroke="blue">
<circle id="circle_3" cx="375" cy="25" r="20" fill="orange" stroke="red" />
</rect>

</svg>
Related Actions Items:
No related actions
Related emails:
  1. Re: ISSUE-2350 (unknown element fallback): Specify that unknown elements are treated as <g> elements for the purpose of rendering [SVG 2.0] (from ed@opera.com on 2010-07-12)
  2. Re: ISSUE-2350 (unknown element fallback): Specify that unknown elements are treated as <g> elements for the purpose of rendering [SVG 2.0] (from schepers@w3.org on 2010-07-11)
  3. Re: ISSUE-2350 (unknown element fallback): Specify that unknown elements are treated as <g> elements for the purpose of rendering [SVG 2.0] (from ed@opera.com on 2010-07-09)
  4. ISSUE-2350 (unknown element fallback): Specify that unknown elements are treated as <g> elements for the purpose of rendering [SVG 2.0] (from sysbot+tracker@w3.org on 2010-07-08)

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Dirk Schulze <dschulze@adobe.com>, Chair, Chris Lilley <chris@w3.org>, Staff Contact
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$Id: 2350.html,v 1.1 2020/01/17 13:21:23 carcone Exp $