Graphics standard advances

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the governing body that sets up Web standards such as HTTP, announced Tuesday the release of new versions of the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) standard. SVG is a developing standard for animation and other complex graphics tasks. The format has slowly built support as an alternative to proprietary standards such as Macromedia's Flash animation player.

Version 1.1 of the SVG and SVG Mobile standards are built on modular elements that make it easier for developers to pick and use portions of the standard they need, according to a W3C statement. The standards were released as "candidate recommendations," which means developers will be encouraged to use and test the standards before the W3C makes a final decision on implementation.