From http://www.w3schools.com (Copyright Refsnes Data)

Introduction to SVG

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SVG is a language for describing 2D-graphics and graphical applications in XML.


What you should already know

Before you continue, you should have some basic understanding of the following:

If you want to study these subjects first, find the tutorials on our Home page.


What is SVG?


SVG is a W3C Recommendation

SVG became a W3C Recommendation 14. January 2003.

To read more about the SVG activities at W3C, please read our W3C tutorial.


SVG History & Advantages

Sun Microsystems, Adobe, Apple, IBM, and Kodak are some of the organizations that have been involved in defining SVG.

Advantages of using SVG over other image formats (like JPEG and GIF) are:

The main competitor to SVG is Flash.

The biggest advantage SVG has over Flash is the compliance with other standards (e.g. XSL and the DOM). Flash relies on proprietary technology that is not open source.

Look at a directory of SVG enabled software and services.


Viewing SVG Files

All browsers support SVG files nowadays, except for Internet Explorer, which needs a plug-in. Those are available for free, as for example the Adobe SVG Viewer.


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From http://www.w3schools.com (Copyright Refsnes Data)