Re: Flash standard vs PGML

[John Dowdell]

At 8:37 AM 5/20/98, Jeff Bradshaw wrote:

>In reading the recent posts about text heavy content I'm recalling a topic

>that a client keeps chiding me about.

>"What will the W3C embrace as a standard. PGML or Flash ? ". I know what my

>prefs are, and I really hope I'm not opening up the Flash vs. Liquid Motion

>debate again, but, will PGML be an extension of Adobe Illustrator or a whole

>new product? Is there a dev product that uses PGML standard now? Anybody

>have a take?


It's sort of hard to say right now. When things go before standards bodies

the inner mechanics are rather hush. I don't know the internals myself, but

even so, I get the impression that it would be impolitic for me to say

anything at all.



That said <g>, there are some things we can look at. There are definitely

*various* needs for vector graphics on the web. Just because PGML and SWF

both share the terms "vector" and "web" doesn't mean they're direct rivals.

If you're interested in this area, and already know what Flash can do, then

I'd recommend reading the PGML submission and seeing how it differs from

the magazine articles.


There are also related options that the standards bodies are considering.

For instance, at the W3C look at the "Schematic Graphics" submission. That

has a nice shape description language that's *integrated* with current CSS

work, rather than being off in a box on a screen like a Java applet would

be. There are various needs, and various approaches.


Having a fast delivery format is cool. Being able to draw with JavaScript

would be cool. Constructing images on the fly from databases is cool. Being

able to make org charts and diagrams without pixels would be cool. There

are various additional things that could share the two terms "vector" and

"web".



For PGML, I don't know of anything that writes it yet, but it shouldn't be

too hard... it's pretty much a talkative version of the PDF Acrobat format.

There's not a display device yet, but the Java 2D API shares many concepts,

so it should be pretty straightforward to create PGML-displaying applets.


I would assume that Illustrator would export PGML, should the format come

into use. It would be nice to have an XML-like import/export format from

standard DTP tools like FreeHand, XPress, and so on.



I'm glad you're interested in this area too, Jeff, and would encourage you

to check into the source documents if you wish. It likely won't be the

"PGML vs SWF" issue that some early articles portrayed -- both approaches

will likely be useful. The key is in satisfying the things that people have

to *do*....


jd







------------------------------------------------------------------------

To UNSUBSCRIBE send: unsubscribe flasher in the body of an

email to

list-managershocker [dot] com

.  Problems to:

ownershocker [dot] com

N.B. Email address must be the same as the one you used to subscribe.

For info on digest mode send: info flasher to

list-managershocker [dot] com