Using SVG as the Rendering Model for Structured and Graphically Complex Web Material

This paper reports some experiments in using SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), rather than the browser default of (X)HTML/CSS, as a potential Web-based rendering technology, in an attempt to create an approach that integrates the structural and display aspects of a Web document in a single XML-compliant envelope. Although the syntax of SVG is XML based, the semantics of the primitive graphic operations more closely resemble those of page description languages such as PostScript or PDF. The principal usage of SVG, so far, is for inserting complex graphic material into Web pages that are predominantly controlled via (X)HTML and CSS. The conversion of structured and unstructured PDF into SVG is discussed. It is found that unstructured PDF converts into pages of SVG with few problems, but difficulties arise when one attempts to map the structural components of a Tagged PDF into an XML skeleton underlying the corresponding SVG. These difficulties are not fundamentally syntactic; they arise largely because browsers are innately bound to (X)HTML/CSS as their default rendering model. Some suggestions are made for ways in which SVG could be more totally integrated into browser functionality, with the possibility that future browsers might be able to use SVG as their default rendering paradigm.