Origins of SVG

Specifically, SVG emerged from the W3C’s Document Formats group that formed in 1998 mainly on the basis of two submissions: Vector Markup Language (VML), and Precision Graphics Markup Language (PGML).

SVG was developed by the W3C organization and had the support of all the “big players". These included Microsoft, Netscape, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Canon, and Kodak. SVG was also promoted by the major graphics software vendors, such as Adobe and Corel. All of these companies (and about twenty others) have been active contributors to the standardization effort.

• SVG 1.0 was released as the first specification by W3C in September 2001.

• SVG 1.1 and SVG mobile Profiles (SVG Basic and SVG Tiny) were approved as W3C recommendations in January 2003.

• SVG 1.2 is the specification currently being developed and is available in draft form. It aims at introducing new features which include the addition of native state-of the-art text wrapping and flowing, SMIL integration enhancements (including audio and video), and miscellaneous DOM enhancements etc.

Today, the SVG 1.1 specification forms the core of the current SVG developments and many implementations are already available.