Industry Leaders Submit Web Graphics Proposal

Adobe Systems Inc., along with IBM, Netscape, and Sun Microsystems, submitted a proposal to the World Wide Web Consortium to improve the creation of and access to vector-based graphics for use on the Web.

The proposal was submitted in response to the World Wide Web Consortium’s
(W3C) interest in creating a vector graphics specification. The Precision Graphics Markup Language (PGML), as the proposal is known, is a 2D graphics language that enables designers to precisely control layout, fonts, color, and printing.

The companies feel that the specification will result in Web pages with compelling text, images, and graphics, as well as dynamic events and animation that are much less bandwidth intensive.

PGML is intended to be compatible with the industry’s leading drawing and
illustration programs, enabling designers to easily export vector graphics to
the Web using their preferred graphics programs without a loss of quality.
Developers can create the same high-quality content that they normally would
for print, and utilize PGML to place the content on the Web without reducing
the quality of the images.

Many industry leaders are predicting that the acceptance of PGML will enable
faster download speeds, better graphic interactivity, resolution-independent
printing, zoomable graphics, animation, and special effects, all without the need for a browser plug-in. Skeptics believe that this will depend on Netscape and Microsoft’s reaction and commitment to the PGML specification.

PGML is compatible with XML (eXtensible Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), DOM (Document Object Model), and other Web specifications. The
specification could mean that developers can stop waiting for bandwidth to
increase and start creating high quality Web graphics and animations that
everyone can fully appreciate.

To learn more about the W3C’s review process, or to view the submission of the PGML specification, visit the W3C’s PGML
submission page.